sign in sign up
<<
Home , Bhaviveka, Clark Strand, House of Religions, Japanese Zen, Jewish Buddhist, John Makransky

51 CURRENT DIALOGUE December 2011

Special Issue : Christian Self Understanding in the Context of

Editorial – Clare Amos 2

Introduction to Special Edition of Current Dialogue – Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana 3

Report of the consultation Christian Self Understanding in the Context of Buddhism December 9-12 2009 7

The and the Behaviour of the Church in the Lankan Buddhist Context – Fr Aloysius Pieris, s.j. 11

Reply to Dr Aloysius Pieris s.j.: What would a Christian church incarnated in the Buddhist context of believe, how would it behave? – Dr Elizabeth J Harris 20

The Transformation of Christian Self-Understanding in Relation to Buddhism – Professor Perry Schmidt-Leukel 25

Response to Perry Schmidt-Leukel’s paper – Professor Christine Lienemann-Perrin 38

Seeking self-understanding as in a Buddhist context – Rev. Dr Leopold Ratnasekera OMI 42

Minority Christian Identity in the Context of Majority Buddhist Identity in Sri Lanka – Rev. Keerthisiri Fernando 48

The Significance of Buddhism for Christian self-understanding in the West – Rev. Dr Ruwan Palapathwala 54

Christian Self-Understanding and the Question of Dual Belonging – Dr Rose Drew 60

What can Christians learn from ? – Sr Katrin Amell O.P. 70

Without Christ I Could Not Be a Buddhist: An Evangelical Response to Christian Self- Understanding in a Buddhist Context – Prabo Mihindukulasuriya 73

“Show Me Your ” – Professor David Eckel 88

ISSN 1814-2230 Current Dialogue can be found on: www.oikoumene.org/en/programmes/interreligiousdialogue/current-dialogue/magazine.html Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Editorial December 2011

Editorial

Current Dialogue, published by the World Council of Churches for more than 25 years, is one of the oldest and most respected international journals in the field of Christian interreligious engagement. It has been a particular joy for me to be able to restart its publication after a gap of a couple of years.

So it is excellent that this issue provides such a rich feast. It is a ‘special edition’ which contains the majority of papers presented at a WCC consultation held in December 2009 which explored ‘Christian self-understanding in the context of Buddhism.’ The consultation was organised by Rev Dr Shanta Premawardhana, and on the page opposite he introduces the consultation. The meeting was one of a series that has been organised by the WCC in recent years, exploring Christian self-understanding in the context of particular . It is intended that papers from the consultations relating to and to will appear in Current Dialogue in June and December 2012. I want to pay tribute both to Shanta Premawardhana and to Rima Barsoum, my predecessors at the World Council of Churches, for their hard work both in organising these consultations and for taking responsibility the initial stages of preparing the material for publication.

A key task for me in the first half of 2012 will be to take the insights from these specifically targeted consultations (as well as meetings relating to and Indigenous Religions) . I will be working with an ecumenical group to provide an overall report on ‘Christian self-understanding in the context of religious plurality’ which will be presented to the meeting of the WCC Central Committee next August. I am sure that it will provide some interesting material for future issues of Current Dialogue.

We have taken the opportunity of the gap in the publication of Current Dialogue to update and rationale the mailing list of subscribers. We are intending to continue to publish both in hard copy and electronic form, although we hope that increasingly people will be able to receive and read it electronically. If you are not already a subscriber to Current Dialogue but would like to be, please contact my colleague Marietta Ruhland on [email protected] and ask for your name to be included. Without the help and hard work of both Marietta and Yvette Milosevic the journal would not have been able to appear at this point in time and I give thanks to them for their excellent support of me in my first months working for the World Council of Churches.

Clare Amos Programme Coordinator for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation World Council of Churches

2 Introduction to Special Edition of Current Dialogue Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Christian Self-Understanding in the Context of Buddhism December 2011 Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana

Introduction to Special Edition of Current Dialogue Christian Self-Understanding in the Context of Buddhism

Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana

While questions about how Christians should relate to people of other religions, and articulating the theological justifications for doing so, are as old as the church itself, they need to be re-stated for each generation. In the past few centuries, when the colonial movement was strong, the realization that in many colonized countries there were religious people who were devout adherents of ancient traditions, and whose deeply held beliefs and devout lifestyles were exemplary had begun to dawn. This raised many new questions about missionary and methods.

Indeed, when the International Missionary Conference convened in Edinburgh, Scotland, a century ago, the question of how Christians relate with people of other religions was a significant part of the agenda. Following that momentous event, and throughout the past century, ecumenical leaders, theologians and congresses sought to address why and how Christians should engage with people of other religions. The history of such engagement is well catalogued by Wesley Ariarajah in his and Christians: A Century of Protestant Ecumenical Thought , Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991 .

The 21st century brought with it a new set of questions. The role of in public life, including massive geo-political changes, shifts in religious demographics, religious people’s participation in terrorism and violence, as well as religions’ potential as agents for justice and are but a few of the serious questions that needed to be addressed in the contemporary context. It was this realization that led the 2006 Porto Alegre General Assembly of the World Council of Churches to engage the question of Christian self- understanding in the context of many religions. In the years that followed, the WCC has engaged in several consultations to address this question in relation to particular religions. The present volume contains the presentations made at, and the final statement from the consultation on Christian self-understanding in the context of Buddhism held in , Sri Lanka from 9-12 December, 2009.

Given the multiplicity of theological traditions within the ecumenical movement, reaching a comprehensive theological agreement on any question is a significant challenge, and this one particularly so. Agreement on the necessity of working towards such a consensus itself signals the heightened awareness Christians throughout the world have of the importance of this question. In many contexts, the peace and harmony with which Christians and their other religious neighbors have lived in for centuries have been challenged in recent times. Local and global politics, the spreading neo-liberal globalization, and a new missionary movement that is not particularly attentive to local cultures and religious sensitivities have created new tensions.

The missionary movement’s alliance with the colonial political and economic power structure sullied its motivations from the outset. The British East Company, the economic engine of the British colonial period, initially did not trust the and did not want them in the colonies. However, when it became clear that conversions of Buddhists in Sri Lanka, for example, would also lead to a subtle shift in their political allegiances and make them look more favorably towards the British, reducing thereby the chances for revolt, missionary activities were encouraged.

Conversion to requires a hard change of identity. In cultures where religion, ethnicity, language and political affiliations are often intertwined, a hard change of identity in religion threatens

3 Introduction to Special Edition of Current Dialogue Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Christian Self-Understanding in the Context of Buddhism December 2011 Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana the integrity of the convert’s other identities. Converts to Christianity therefore lost their credibility in their own cultural/ethnic/language groups, creating an uncomfortable and often unnecessary tension. These tensions were exacerbated because evangelistic methods that some Christian missionaries used were aggressive by any measure.

In the middle of the last century, as the colonial period ended, the churches in formerly colonized countries had an opportunity to articulate a theology that is appropriate to their context, and to find ways of ministry indigenous to their cultures. In multi-religious contexts, such included their Christian self-understanding in the context of those particular religions. In Sri Lanka, theologians such as the late Rev. Lynn de Silva, a Methodist, and Father Aloysius Peiris, a Jesuit, were in the forefront of articulating alternative theologies of relating to Buddhists. New institutions that arose in the 1960s, such as the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, the Theological College of Lanka and the Tulana Centre for Study and Research continue to articulate such alternative theologies. In locating the consultation in Sri Lanka, the WCC sought to take this context seriously and engage these institutions that have a strong track-record in this work.

Serious political events and challenges that occurred in the past decades have caused considerable anxiety among certain factions of Sri Lankan Buddhists. A war that lasted some thirty years, often inappropriately framed as a Sinhala-Tamil ethnic conflict, was one of the sources of this anxiety. The religio-ethnic demographic of Sri Lanka, where Buddhists are mostly Sinhala and Hindus are mostly Tamil, while Christians are both Sinhala and Tamil, made the Christians’ loyalty to the government’s war against a brutal Tamil terrorist group, suspect in Buddhist eyes. Strong statements critical of the government’s excesses and calls for justice and action issued by the churches, particularly through the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, added to this suspicion.

Another source of anxiety is the influx of new missionaries beginning in the late 1970s, who are suspect of allurements and incentives to potential converts. While the facts of these accusations are debatable, the public outcry against such perceived action is demonstrative of the anxiety. If the colonial missionary movement softened the population’s penchant for revolt against an oppressive political system, the political argument goes, the present missionary movement will soften the population’s opposition to the coming economic globalization, which is arguably more insidious and therefore more dangerous, and must be even more strongly condemned. International NGOs, some of them Christian-based, who arrived in large numbers with vast amounts of money in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami are have been subject to scathing criticism in the media for the same reason. Such anxieties resulted in expressions that are atypical for Buddhists: for example, the formation of a political party that is made up entirely of Buddhist with the express purpose of protecting Buddhism from these influences, and other segments of the Buddhist population turning violent.

The vandalizing or burning of churches and the beating or killing of pastors and church leaders, have unfortunately become somewhat routine in the past couple of decades. The consultation noted with regret, that during its meeting, in a town less than ten kilometers from the hotel where the consultation was taking place, a Roman was vandalized. While such acts are condemnable, it is also important to note that like the atypical responses noted above, these incidents of violence should be seen in the context of the unresolved hurts of 500 years of colonialoppression.

At a more formal level, the report of a Buddhist Commission appointed by the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress in 2009 catalogued instances of alleged unethical conversions that have occurred since the liberalization of the Sri Lankan economy in 1978. This Commission harks back to its predecessor, the

4 Introduction to Special Edition of Current Dialogue Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Christian Self-Understanding in the Context of Buddhism December 2011 Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana

Buddhist Commission of 1956, which similarly catalogued atrocities committed by Christians throughout the colonial period. The 2009 report recommended to the government that “unethical” conversions be outlawed. Accordingly, legislation that outlaws conversions by “force, allurement, or any fraudulent means” has been introduced in the Sri Lankan parliament (although not yet enacted), that entails a punishment of five years imprisonment (seven years if the converted is a minor or a mentally disabled person) and a fine equivalent to USD 5000. The consultation was clear that it needed to take the issues of local context of its host country in to serious consideration.

The varieties of Buddhist schools of thought have historic roots in many Asian countries. In the latter half of the past decade, however, it has seen significant growth in adherents in Europe and North America, offering greater opportunities for Christians to encounter this great world religion. Many Christians, not having any idea of how to engage the non-theistic world- of Buddhists have experienced greater difficulty thinking about dialogue with Buddhists, than with the monotheistic traditions. At the same time, however, many Christian theologians in the west have begun to seriously engage these questions. The consultation therefore included Christian theologians from traditionally Buddhist countries as well as those from Europe and North America.

The consultation featured two key note presentations: Father Aloysius Pieris whose presentation rooted in the Sri Lankan context, outlines Buddhists self-understanding and offers a proposal for how the churches’ beliefs and behavior need to take that into account, sets the tone for the entire consultation. Professor Elizabeth Harris in her response points out how the Buddhist attitudes of the 19th century, which were hospitable to Christians, shifted because of Christians’ unwillingness to be reciprocal in their hospitality towards Buddhists. Prof. Perry Schmidt-Leukel who presented the second key note address places himself in the global context. Indeed, while historically Buddhist Asian countries are host to one or the other , several western countries now host a variety of Buddhisms, creating a new opportunity for Buddhist ecumenism.

One section of the consultation dealt in greater depth with the Sri Lankan context. This included an examination of the distinctive contribution of Rev. Lynn de Silva to Buddhist-Christian dialogue, offered by Dr. Leopold Ratnasekera. Another section examined the contexts of other historically Buddhist countries and the churches’ relationship to other schools of Buddhism in other contexts. While this consultation primarily focused on the Sri Lankan tradition, it acknowledged the need to address other traditions as specifically in subsequent consultations. The consultation also noted the distinctive contribution of monastic dialogue to Buddhist-Christian relations and the need to examine its role. On the global scene, the presentations moved towards examining the growing phenomenon of dual-belonging, where some Christians (not as many Buddhists) are exploring how they might be Buddhist-Christians — not 50% Buddhists and 50% Christians, but 100% in both. Prof. Rose Drew in her paper addressed this question in depth.

The consultation also included participants from our partner ecumenical networks: Faith and Order and the Commission on World Mission and , as well as the World Evangelical Alliance. Although invited, the inability of the Vatican representative to be present was noted by the consultation. The paper by Dr. Prabho Mihindukulasuriya, representing the World Evangelical Alliance offers a strong Evangelical critique of some of the assumptions that those who engage in interreligious dialogue tend to make .

In its final statement the consultation noted one important weakness of its deliberations: that its necessarily academic orientation precluded from participation voices of those who are most closely engaged in the day-to-day work of Buddhist-Christian dialogue at the grassroots. As these

5 Introduction to Special Edition of Current Dialogue Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Christian Self-Understanding in the Context of Buddhism December 2011 Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana consultations go forward, it urged that the WCC consider ways to engage such voices. Indeed, the final outcome of these deliberations will be determined by whose voices are heard, and who’s at the table.

Finally, it has been my privilege to shepherd this process of consultations towards a Christian self- understanding in the context of many religions over a period of three years. A comprehensive understanding of this question arising from the many consultations will make a critical contribution to the on-going work of Christians’ engagement with those of other religions in dialogue and cooperation.

6 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in the December 2011 Context of Buddhism Report of the consultation Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

A Report of the Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in the Context of Buddhism

Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

A consultation on Christian self-understanding memory of the discrimination experienced by in the context of Buddhism brought together Buddhists has not been adequately addressed Christian scholars of Buddhism and Christians or healed. This, together with aggressive living amongst Buddhists from around the methods some have used in more recent world, to Pegasus Reef Hotel in Sri Lanka. The waves of evangelization, has led to anti- consultation which was held from 9-12 Christian violence. We noted with sadness the December 2009 also included a Buddhist attacks on a Roman Catholic church, its priest who served as an observer of the and people, during the week of our process. While the consultation included consultation, in a village near Ja-Ela not more Christian self-understanding in the context of than 10 kms from where we held our meeting. historically Buddhist countries, because it was held in Sri Lanka, that particular context was We recognized that in some countries an important concern for the deliberations. Buddhist communities are also vulnerable. In these situations Christians have a The programme included key note responsibility to stand in solidarity with presentations by Professor Perry Schmidt- Buddhists. Leukel and Father Aloysius Pieris, and panel discussions featuring the Sri Lankan context, Christians in the post independence era have the context in other historically Buddhist Asian made serious attempts to root themselves countries and the global context of Buddhism. more firmly in the Sri Lankan soil. There have The following is a compilation of the main been conscious attempts to indigenize their questions that were under discussion. theological self - understanding as well as their forms of , using, for example, local 1. Socio Political Issues music and art.

In most countries in South and Southeast Asia, We recognized that some Christians have Christians are distinct minorities and are been accused of using aggressive and sometimes persecuted. While this could at insensitive evangelization methods leading to times lead to a sense of vulnerability in their questionable conversions. If the accusation is relationship to the larger community, we true, we condemn such behaviour as well. The recognized that they are often remarkably Sri Lankan churches are concerned by the faithful and resilient. This may partly be due to possibility that legislation to restrict or prohibit centuries of grappling with the challenges of such conversions will lead to restrictions on being faithful witnesses to Christ in pluralistic their rights of freedom to worship, practice and societies. manifest their faith.

We also noted that Christians have to deal with While we condemn the attempts of certain a legacy of suspicion left over from the colonial western Christian agencies to use charitable period. In the popular consciousness, Sri aid for proselytizing purposes, for example, Lankan Christians are considered to have a following the tsunami of 2004, we are western orientation, and are consequently concerned that such legislation can create a considered anti-national. The historical prohibition on all Christian charitable projects.

7 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in the December 2011 Context of Buddhism Report of the consultation Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

2. Mission, Witness and Evangelism Christians today to learn from that Buddhist experience to exercise hospitality. In the case The present project of Religious Plurality and of Sri Lanka, the consultation noted that this Christian Self-Understanding has been process is under discussion. conducted in partnership with the Commission The consultation affirmed the importance of for World Mission and Evangelism and Faith embedding such dialogical principles in the and Order. We are grateful for the work of the church. For example, the representative colleagues from these two consultation included a Buddhist monk as an networks with whom the Programme on observer with the conviction that our Interreligious Dialogue has always worked in theologizing should not be done in isolation close cooperation. The present project also from our Buddhist colleagues. As another works in partnership with the Vatican and the example, we noted that whenever Christian World Evangelical Alliance. While we lament the communities have access to money for absence of a Vatican representative, we are charitable purposes, efforts should be made to grateful for a representative from the WEA at distribute those funds through interreligious our consultation. channels.

While we have a general consensus that 3. Theological Categories Mission, Witness and Evangelism are imperatives of the , we have different A paper on Lynn de Silva’s study on the self in approaches to how these should be interpreted. Buddhism and Christianity helped us focus on We considered whether it would be desirable the question of complementarity, mutual for all people in the world to become Christian. challenges, and points of convergence and Some participants in our discussion felt that the divergence. It helped us to focus on how far world would be poorer if there were no Buddhist categories of thought may help Buddhists in it, and felt the same way about Christians gain new insights into their faith and other religious traditions as well. We recognize enrich their understanding of reality. that not all Christians share this view, and where this view is not shared, the evangelistic impulse Many theological issues were raised and is rightly perceived as an existential threat by remain questions. We recognized that they Buddhists. The members of the consultation should be commended for further study, and agree that Buddhism should be respected and that where possible, be engaged dialogically. affirmed. The following are crucial examples of questions that lead to deeper Christian self- Rather than understand that the aim of understanding: evangelism is to bring Buddhists to the Christian • Can Buddhist understandings of fold we asked whether the work of Christ should transcendent reality offer insights into the be described as the conversion of all people, way Christians understand ? including ourselves, away from greed and • Can the Buddhist concept of and hatred towards the reign of God (and its the Buddhist identification of tanha as the equivalent in Buddhism). cause of dukkha help Christians interpret more radically its own message of anti- The consultation noted that as early as the 19 th greed? century, Buddhist monks had exercised • Can the practice of in remarkable hospitality to Christian missionaries Buddhism and Christianity be mutually that had not been reciprocated. They had enriching? recommended an ethic based on mutual • Can Buddhism and Christianity be respect, transparency and non-violence. This legitimately interpreted as orientating people invited the question of how we can encourage towards a single or liberation, or

8 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in the December 2011 Context of Buddhism Report of the consultation Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

are they paths leading to different salvific see further explored concerns whether there ends? are helpful and unhelpful forms of integrating • Are we prepared to acknowledge that a insights we gain from Buddhism. Christian for whom the person of the Buddha as the embodiment of the dhamma has Concerns about must be carefully become meaningful, remains a Christian? examined and should not become an Conversely, are we prepared to impediment to the necessary openness to acknowledge that a Buddhist, for whom the interreligious learning and transformation. person of Christ embodying the reign of God has become meaningful, may remain a 5. Monastic Interreligious Dialogue Buddhist? • Can the Buddhist emphasis on non- We noted that monastic interreligious dialogue attachment and the Christian emphasis on has been a fruitful form of Buddhist-Christian self emptying help us all avoid the dialogue in the modern period for over 40 years. through which race and ideology become We noted that this is a specialized form of absolutes? dialogue which we must encourage churches to support. Reflecting on questions such as these drew us into conversation into how in-depth dialogue 6. Theological Education and Formation between Christians and Buddhists could be mutually transformative. Christian self- Given that the issues arising from encounter understanding in the context of Buddhism must with Buddhism touch upon central theological incorporate a humility that allows for mutual issues, the consultation recommends that the transformation. study of other religions and of interreligious dialogue becomes a regular part of theological We noted that in western societies, traditional education and formation and has its impact on Christian concepts and language may no longer the way we teach all of our theological subjects. evoke genuine religious experiences for many This consultation recognized the implications of people. We suspect that the converse may be in the above concerns for theological education true in Buddhist societies. We inquired whether curricula, and the formation of future lay and deeper dialogues between Christians and ordained ministers of the church. Buddhists could have a renewing influence on both religions in this regard. 7. Methodology

4. Mutual Transformation and We recognized that there was an inherent Comple -mentarity limitation in our consultation in that our primary approach was academic. This created a How far can mutual transformation go? We situation in which we may have excluded some recognize that religious identity and experience who engage in interreligious encounter and can be multi-faceted and that today there are other forms of dialogue such as those who people who identify themselves as both engage in dialogue at the grassroots level, and Buddhist and Christian. This necessarily those connected with dialogue through creative challenges the church to rethink and redefine arts. These persons do not always have the its life and identity. opportunity to document these dialogues in the format that we are used to. We recognized that These issues occupied a significant portion of we need to extend our approach so that we the consultation’s attention. Difficult questions learn from their efforts. are involved and will continue to demand our This consultation represents a progression in attention. One of the questions we would like to the World Council of Churches’ (WCC’s)

9 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in the December 2011 Context of Buddhism Report of the consultation Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 engagement with Buddhism. The consultation Buddhism and did not fully address Christian noted that while Christian self-understanding is self-understanding in the context of other an important conversation, dialogue with traditions of Buddhism. The consultation Buddhists also needs to be sustained. recommends that before the process of The consultation affirmed the shift in WCC’s Religious Plurality and Christian Self- methodology to engage other religious Understanding is completed, consult -ations on communities in local contexts. However, this Christian self-understanding in the context of consultation focused mainly on Theravada other traditions of Buddhism also be held.

Participants at Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in Relation to Buddhism Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Rev. Adrian Aaron Rev. Dr. Aloysius Pieris Sr. Dr. Katrin Åmell, O.P. Mr. M. R. Ranasinghe Metropolitan Dr. Geeverghese Mor Coorilos Rev. Fr. (Dr) Joseph Leopold Ratnasekera (Bishop George Mathew) Rev. J. C. S. Rohitha de Silva Rt. Rev. Duleep de Chickera Rev. Jerome Sahabandhu Dr. Rose Drew Prof. Dr. Perry Schmidt-Leukel Prof. Dr. M. David Eckel Rev. Dr. Martin Sinaga Rev. Shirely Faber Ven. Dhamma Vihari Rev. Keerthisiri Fernando Mr. Godfrey Yogarajah Rt. Rev. Kenneth Fernando Dr. Elizabeth Harris National Christian Council Staff Rev. Dr. Eun-Kyu Kim Ms. Vinodi Fernando Rev. Dr. Arthur Ko Lay Rev. Dr. Jayasiri Peiris Prof. Dr Christine Lienemann Ms Neena Mahadev Mr. Prabo Mihindukulasuriya WCC Staff Rev. Dr. Ruwan Palapathwala Rev. Dr Shanta Premawardhana Major Alister Philip Mrs Yvette Milosevic

10 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Aloysius Pieris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

The Belief and the Behaviour of the Church in the Lankan Buddhist Context

Aloysius Pieris, s.j.

A Preliminary Clarification Righteousness (Dharmadviipa). Hence the first step in my discourse is to spell out the Sinhala I am invited to spell out the Christian church’s Buddhists’ own Self-Understanding. My thesis self-understanding against the background of is that the ancient and traditional self- the Sri Lankan Buddhist context and understanding of the Sinhala Buddhists went accordingly indicate what the church would through a change during the 19th century (i.e., believe and how the church would behave in the British Period). Dr Elizabeth Harris, who will that context. I was apprehensive that this way of speak after me is a specialist in this matter and formulating the topic on the part of the World will provide us with the background knowledge Council of Churches (WCC) could generate an required for my presentation. Hence I shall offer adverse reaction on the part of some sectors of only a very general reflection on that particular the World Christian Community, here and period (Part I, b) after giving a brief description abroad, on the ground that it is not the Lankan of what went on before the 19th century (Part I, Buddhists that determine the beliefs and a). Then I shall take up the Christian response behaviour of the church; that it is God’s for discussion (Part II). revelation culminating in Christ that had pre- determined our beliefs and behaviour in any PART I country at any given time. The Lankan Buddhist Context according to To avoid a controversy, that might need another the Sinhala Buddhists’ Self-Understanding congress at another venue on another occasion, and to prevent this assembly from (a) The Antecedents to the 19th Century playing Emperor Nero instead of attending to a Events burning issue, I have re-worded the topic in the title of this discourse. This is to express the I have observed that the designation “Sinhala mind of the organizers who intended something Buddhism” (Sinhala Buddha-agama) is like the following: “Belief and Behaviour of the conspicuously absent in the day-to-day Church in Sri Lanka: How does/should it come parlance of the Sinhala people; rather it is the across to the Buddhists?” Or more concretely: phrase “Sinhala Buddhist”. (Sinhala “Does our behaviour communicate our beliefs? Bauddhaya) that we consistently hear and read Do our beliefs need reformulation in the about. This is an important distinction often Buddhist context so that they may not be ignored when discussing the Lankan Buddhist misinterpreted?” This is what I am going to context. My surmise is that the English term discuss . “Sinhala Buddhism” was originally an invention of non-Buddhists and/or Sociologists, and refers My second observation is that to answer these to Buddhism inculturated in Sri Lanka on the two questions, the Church has to set aside its analogy of Thai Buddhism, Japanese Buddhism own outsider’s reading of the Buddhist context and so on. In the Sinhala Buddhists’ self- and strive to respond to the Buddhists’ own understanding, however, perception of it. Now the Buddhists in general could not be “Sinhala Buddhism”; rather their perceive this context as a Sinhala Buddhist claim (exceptions not denied) is that the original ethos which defines this country as an Island of Buddhism, which disappeared from the land of

11 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Aloysius Pieris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 its origin, has been preserved here in this international academe. Nevertheless, the fact country. To call it “Sinhala Buddhism” would be remains that it is an essential part of the Sinhala to particularize it as a local version of the Buddhists’ self-understanding that they have original Buddhism rather than the original been “destined to be the custodians of itself. Hence a Sinhala equivalent of authentic Buddhism”. the phrase “Sinhala Buddhism” is not heard in conversations and writings so much as the The Mahavansa (The Great Chronicle), the expression “Sinhala Buddhist” . Sociologically record of the Sinhala Buddhists’ self- however, we do notice a species of popular understanding, insinuates that it was only the Buddhism which has absorbed many pre- Sinhala People, of all nations, that Buddha had Buddhist and non-Buddhist cults as well as singled out for a special mission. This chronicle certain practices and beliefs taken from claims that this country was hallowed as an . This is neatly contrasted with aadi- Island of Righteousness thanks to a triple visit budu- or “early Buddhism” which is what from the Buddha (Mv 1:84), and that it was on Lankan Buddhists claim to have preserved for the very day that the Sinhala People landed on posterity. the shores of this country that the Buddha also attained or the final release (Mv Today the search for early Buddhism through a VI:47), but not before he commissioned the ‘return to the sources’ (a movement begun in chief of to protect as well as the the middle of the 20th century) has brought a Sinhala People, predicting that his doctrine is new understanding of “Sinhala Buddhism” in the going to be established one day in that country works written by Buddhists in English. D.J. (VII: 1-4). Kalupahana, a Sinhala Buddhist Scholar of world standing, has suggested that the Though this legend is not found in the Buddhism of the Tradition in Sri Canon, it is a fact that the Pali Canon (which Lanka, taught in monastic seminaries today, is contains the earliest available version of the not the original Buddhism but is the work of original Prakritic Buddhism, which was later Indian Commentators such as et ousted from India) has been preserved in Sri al, whereas the authentic “Sinhala Buddhism”, Lanka and committed to writing by the Sinhala (i.e., the Canonical or Scriptural Buddhism that Monks in 88 BCE; and it is from here that has been preserved by Sinhala People) is found missions went forth to South East Asia. This in such literature as the Sinhala poetical work historical event seems to corroborate the Sinhala lo-veda-sangaraava. Buddhists’ self-understanding that they are a people specially chosen by the Buddha for the In my doctoral and post-doctoral research so far mission of conserving and spreading his true published, I have already documented message. Note that in the 5th century CE when instances where the Pali exegetes deviate from this chronicle was compiled, the focus of the canonical Buddhism. For instance, in “election”, so to say, was a people in view of a Buddhaghosa is a return to the - religion, and certainly not a “race” in terms of a of the Vedantins, a far cry from what the Buddha ‘language’. The racial and linguistic component had taught. The next authoritative exegete, took another fifteen centuries to assert itself due Dhammapala offers a logical proof for the to certain circumstances which will be discussed existence of Nirvana whereas the Buddha later. Even the war between the Sinhala King declared that it is beyond logic and rational Dutugamunu and the Tamil King Elaara, which inference. Kalupahana’s thesis that authentic took place in the middle of the 2nd century BCE Buddhism of the Canon is found among the is not interpreted in the Chronicle itself in terms Sinhalese, but not in the commentarial tradition, of a Sinhala-Tamil conflict (as it is done today) has not settled down in the Sinhala Buddhist but as an attempt to restore Buddhism to its consciousness, here, nor widely studied in the rightful place, as Ananda Guruge has suggested.

12 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Aloysius Pieris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

But the next big conflict in the island was 18th century. This reform was an internal triggered off by a Tamil aggression in the middle process of renewal according to Kitsiri ages. The Cholas from the South Indian Tamil Malalgoda; it was not directed against another State (which the Mahabharata refers to as race or religion or culture. Even the attempt at Draavidya) invaded the island and destroyed dethroning the Hindu Tamil King Sri Wikrama the Kingdom and its rich thirteen Rajasingha on the part of the Kandyan century old Buddhist culture within a short time. chieftains (an event, which ushered in the The Magha’s persecution, which followed, saw British takeover of the whole Island) was not the Buddhist libraries burnt and Buddhist monks motivated by racial, religious or linguistic fleeing the country as refugees. Here again the concerns, according to Colvin R. de Silva. This motive of the Dravidian invaders was not racial Hindu-Tamil King was neither anti-Buddhist nor or linguistic; it was economic exploitation which, anti-Sinhalese but had unfortunately violated Spencer (the Historian of ) defines the principles of based on as the “politics of plunder”, a characteristic of the Lake and the Relic Mound (Daagaba). the times. Kingdoms were plundering one Symbolically, the earth dug out to form a lake is another’s wealth. Unfortunately, both these heaped to form a relic mound. This combination aggressive invaders in the Sinhala Buddhist of Buddhism and agriculture accounted for the Culture happened to be racially Tamil. economically prosperous nation, which we have a glimpse of when we read the literature of the Undoubtedly, the damage wreaked upon the middle ages. Sri Wikrama Rajasingha, Sinhala people, their religion and culture by the according to de Silva, thought otherwise and South Indian invasions and aggressions was created a chaos: he was bent on beautifying his colossal and irreparable. It changed the entire Capital by turning a highly productive stretch of political map of the country and the Sinhala paddy fields into a lake (which we see to this Buddhists of our own times suffer from a day in ). In order to carry out this “dangerous memory” of this event as the economically futile project he drained all the of Sri Lanka do of the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom – manpower from the neighbouring villages, i.e., except that the Tamils of our times had the fire- the farming male population, and thus dealt a power to take a military option, while the severe blow to both the economy and the medieval Sinhala Buddhists simply withdrew to production of the people’s staple food. His race the South, though the long-term damage to the and religion or his mother-tongue had state of Buddhism in the country was apparently played no significant role here. Thus irreversible. Yet it would seem that the racial- even as late as 1815, in the final days of the linguistic component was not yet accentuated Kandyan Kingdom, the Sinhala Buddhists did despite all these political crises. Even as late as not seem to show any trace of racial or linguistic the two pre-colonial centuries, say the 14th and bias. the 15th, our Sinhala Buddhist monk-scholars were accustomed to master not only , (b) Five Significant Events of the 19th Pali and Sinhalese but Tamil as well. They did Century not seem to show any racial or linguistic bias. In their self-understanding, they were a chosen (1) It was in the British period and specially in people rather than a chosen race. the maritime provinces that the Buddhist revival (already begun in the 1750s merely as an The Portuguese period and the Dutch period internal reform ) took an anti-minority turn. It saw a decadence in the religious domain; the was a reaction against the privileges that the situation of Buddhism in the Kandyan Kingdom English educated minority of Christians, Tamils (where the colonization had not yet taken place) and Burghers were alleged to have enjoyed at was distressing and a great reform was the expense of the Sinhala masses whose undertaken by Buddhists in the middle of the Dharmadvipa had by now become a British

13 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Aloysius Pieris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 colony. Notwithstanding many positive elements with modern science. The that that the country derived from the colonial rule, present Buddhism as a rationalistic and the chosen people felt they were also a scientific alternative to all theistic religions, persecuted people; and the chosen and specially Christianity, is now an inalienable persecuted people became a chosen and feature of the Lankan Buddhist context —- persecuted race. The racial-linguistic despite warnings to the contrary coming from component entered the Sinhala People’s more circumspect scholars such as K.N. understanding of their mission to conserve Jayatillake and Ven. Dr Walpola Rahula. Buddhism. The Sinhala Buddhists began to see themselves as a numerical majority politically (4) Orientalism, a Western perception of the reduced to a racio-linguistic and religious East, too, had a considerable impact on the minority. This is one aspect of the Sinhala formation of the Sinhala Buddhist Buddhist’s self-understanding that we Consciousness during the British period. The Christians must treat with great respect and Western recognition of the Sinhala language as sensitivity, as Seelan Kadiragamar, a Tamil having an Indo-European origin, reinforced by himself, advised some South Indian Tamil critics the “ myth” and confirmed by the Sanskrit of Sinhala Buddhists during a seminar roots of the Sinhala language, did influence the organized by the Ecumenical Institute recently. Sinhala Buddhists’ self-understanding as a people belonging to a non-Dravidian race. (2) The British period saw also the beginnings of Though the Tamils masses and the Sinhala Buddhist-Christian polemics initially in the form masses were equally alienated from the English of public debates which generated a plethora of educated elite, and though Tamil and Sinhalese apologetical literature, in which some of the elite were fighting together for independence, Buddhist responses were quite rationalistic the interest that the monk-scholars of the pre- while others were abusive and even scurrilous. colonial centuries showed in the study of the Obviously it was Christianity that started the , seems to have waned while the debates at a time when Buddhists were ready absence of Buddhist missions to the Tamil for dialogue. The Christians were in power and areas of the country and the restriction of the powerful opt for confrontation and Buddhism to the Sinhala people became a conversion, not for conversation. Today the national disaster, as Sunil Ariyaratna has Buddhists are in power and Christians are demonstrated in his excellent work Demala pleading for dialogue. This is an important Bauddhaya (The Tamil Buddhist). So the ingredient of the current Buddhist context. Sinhala Buddhist resurgence begun by Hikkaduwe Sumangala Thera in the South and (3) Another feature of the 19th century polemics the Tamil-Hindu renaissance initiated by was the introduction of rationalism into Arumuga Nalavar in the North in that same 19th Buddhism. The Buddhist polemics of that century, ran on parallel lines that have never century (continuing to the 20th) was regularly met even to this day. The Church which caters fuelled by the anti-Christian literature imported to both ethnic groups was not capable of inter- from such rationalistic organizations as the racial reconciliation within its own fold, while on Nationalist Secular Society in England. Here the other hand, it was perceived by the again the Christian missionaries. Buddhists as part of the ethnic problem rather Misinformation circulated earlier in Europe than part of the solution. Therefore National about Buddhism being a superstitious religion Reconciliation has become a top priority in the was debunked when in the 1880s Europe agenda of Buddhist-Christian dialogue. discovered the Pali Canon and the profound thought it contained. The tables were turned:- (5) Finally, there is the persistence of Christianity is superstitious and Buddhism is Occidentalism, an Eastern misperception of the rationalistic and is the only religion that accords West as the source of all evil, the serpent that

14 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Aloysius Pieris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 creeps into the Asian paradise and corrupts its and behaviour should be geared, among other people. In today’s [2009] most popular things, towards correcting their impressions of teledrama, titled ‘Pabhaa’, currently broadcast authentic Christianity whilst acknowledging our on a state television channel, only the villains of past mistakes. the play bear Christian names (Reginald, Norbert, Michael, Nelia, Mervyn). This is not an PART II isolated instance. In a very popular , ‘Akkarapaha’ (turned into a film), the source of The Church’s Beliefs and Behaviour vis-à- moral corruption in a traditional Buddhist family vis the Sinhala Buddhists’ Self- is a Christian Burgher girl. In one teledrama the Understanding underworld thug was always shown wearing a cross round his neck. I do not think the script In spelling out the Christian praxis in response writers and novelists do this deliberately. It is a to the self-understanding of the Buddhists, I am subconsciously acquired conviction that it is proposing here a summary of what some of us with European-Christian colonization that the Christians (not necessarily the official church) Island of righteousness turned out to be what it have been doing here during the last five is today. Its people were till then pure, innocent decades in Sarana, the Ecumenical and morally correct and the land was an Institute, Christian Workers’ Fellowship, Centre unspoilt Eden. There is no doubt that for Society and Religion, Satyodaya, Tulana, colonization had its evil effects but the pre- Subodhi, Subasetgedara and many other inter- colonial history of the Island shows darker faith groups who live and work as basic human sides, too. The Pali Commentarial literature communities committed to inter-human justice reveals that during the economically prosperous and peace. Their experiences proclaim a period of around the period 5th to 7th century, programmatic message which is at once simple the consumption of all kinds of meat and liquor and dangerous as the Gospel of Christ. was an accepted custom. It was not the Europeans who introduced it. The Mahavamsa (a) First of all let us remember that the non- itself does not whitewash the rulers or the ruled. of the Buddhists and others, is not a The country was going through ups and downs problem for YHWH of Moses, the Father of in economics, politics and religion prior to ; nor should it be for us. God who is colonization. revealed on the Cross is very much The Occidentalism of today is only an indication concerned about idolatry leading to Deicide, that the Christian West has left a bad taste in rather than about non-theism. The polemics the Sinhala Buddhists’ mouths. The latest of the 19th century, in which Christians tried weapon of the Christian West is believed to be to prove the to the the NGO’s and INGO’s. There is much agitation Buddhists, was an evangelical disaster. God against them. The latest novel that won the defies rational argument but reveals Herself National Award this year [2009], ‘Podu to the humble hearts. A person who has truly Purusaya’ by Sunethra Rajakarunanayaka is experienced God does not speak about God; hailed by a much respected Sinhala Buddhist God speaks through that person. The God literary critic Gunasena Vithana as a long of Moses and Jesus does not suffer from an overdue exposure of the NGO syndrome so inferiority complex – taking revenge (as our destructive of the local culture and its values politicians do) on those who do not recognize (, 08.12.2009, Vimansaa, Literary Her or seek Her help; rather being the true Supplement, p.3). God, She rains down Her goodness on all people, be they believers or non-believers, The Lankan Buddhists ’ context according to the and does not fight but condemns Sinhala Buddhists’ own self-understanding is a idolatry as the source of all evil; for idolatry is collage of all these five elements. Our beliefs absolutizing the relative, or adoring

15 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Aloysius Pieris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

creatures; worshiping Mammon (i.e., the sin resurrection. We need a non-triumphalist, a of capitalism which divinizes money and self-effacing church today. That is precisely monetizes God). It is the sin in the eyes of what it means to be the salt of the earth and God. Whenever and wherever my race, my the light of the world : to do our job of language, my colour, my creed, or anything bringing peace and reconciliation through or any person or any ideology becomes my justice without drawing the attention to God, my Absolute and my ultimate concern, ourselves. If at a meal, salt attracts our there I bring injustice and death. The ultimate attention to itself, either through lack or consequence of idolatry is deicide, as Jesus excess, it has failed in its mission. If no one proved on the cross: “It is me your God that mentions salt, it is a good meal. So is light. you kill when you rob my people of their life”. Light is not to be the centre of attraction; if Our mission is not against atheism but you look at the , you do not see anything. against idolatry which is an attempt on God’s If people see the world in the light that we life. And what is idolatry? Greed says St Paul project and the light that we are, but not us (Col . 3;5). Our mission is to join the blinding them, we have fulfilled our mission. Buddhists in the eradication of Greed, both Salt and light are our models. Let us play our individual and organized. Eradication of roll unnoticed. Our triumphalistic presence is Greed (i.e., elimination of idolatry) is the anti-gospel and can make us a threat to the common task Buddhists and Christians are Buddhists rather than an encouragement for called to be engaged in by the Signs of the their practice of appicchata, their version of Times. We are partners in a common the beatitudinal of Jesus. Hence mission and not rivals in a conversion race. the following two recommendations: The beatitudinal spirituality of Jesus and Greedlessness (also known as appicchataa) (1 ) In all our works of love and service which in Buddhism coincide perfectly, except for bear witness to our beliefs, the NGO syndrome the theistic framework of Jesus and the non- must be avoided by the way we handle the theistic approach of the Buddha. The funds. Most charitable institutions receive funds practice of this common spirituality is a from the West and the fact that it is the minority compulsory requirement of our mission as group of Christians (i.e. churches) that handle well as of theirs. There is no other way to win them suggests an atmosphere of back our credibility which we have lost neocolonialism, something that puts off the before the Sinhala Buddhists. Buddhists and confirms the occidentalist bias. Brian de Kretser at Prithipura shared the (b) Secondly, let us be humble and self- responsibility of handling the money with effacing like the God of Moses. In Psalm representatives of other religions and no 18:36 of the Masoretic Text which the religion. We too run a Centre for the Education recite even today, the psalmist says: for Hearing Impaired Children (CEHIC) at Hashem anwartka tervanii (God you become Dalugama with funds which I and Sister Greta so humble before me that you make me feel (the foundress) collect every month from great). It was not “miraculous signs” that donors, for a highly specialized auditory-oral proved Jesus’ divinity (for the gentiles of his education which we impart free of charge (since time also performed such acts, as in the time selling education to the poor is simony), but the of Moses), but by showing himself to be as money is entirely handled by a board of parents humble as YHWH, his Father, associating and volunteers, mostly Buddhists, so that Sister himself with the spiritually humble and the and I have to ask their permission for any socially humbled. The only “miracle-sign” expenses involved in the school. That is how we Jesus claimed to perform was the fate of made the constitution; we Christians who Jonah, by which he meant the humiliating founded the institute renounced all power death which he survived through his coming from money so that we might gain

16 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Aloysius Pieris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 authority. Authority is credibility. That is what the monastic movement in Bangkok (1968). There church lacks today in this country. was a follow-up in Bangalore (1973) and another in Kandy (1980) in both of which I (2 ) All the churches in this country must get participated as a Resource Person. There, I together and make a “crisigenic” decision as the heard the delegates calling for a monastic Council of did (Acts 15) when it witness to Christianity specially in Buddhist changed a divinely revealed law of circumcision countries as an evangelical imperative. In Sri using the authority Jesus gave the church Lanka the initiative came from the Anglican (halakah ). You and I are gentile followers of the church (Yohan Devananda’s Deva Sarana, in Jewish Messiah Jesus because of that decision. Ibbagamuwa) way back in 1959, but not yet It solved one crisis created by in from the Benedictine Monks who have been Antioch, but the solution given by the Council of here since the 19th century and were Jerusalem was a crisigenic decision in that it challenged in the aforementioned inter- created another crisis (questioning not only the monastic congresses to produce an indigenous circumcision but the very Law itself) whose monastic community in which even Buddhist resolution finally changed the map of the world. recluses could feel at home. Note that the A similar “crisigenic” decision has to be made pioneering missionaries in Asia were the Asian today with regard to our mission mandate. churches such as the Nestorians who traversed Unlike in the first decades of the church as far as and the Far East, centuries described in Acts 2, when Greek and Roman before Europe was Christianized, and their religions were on the wane and Christianity was secret was their Christian witness to Asian called providentially to fill in the vacuum, here , as if to say, “Asians we are with in our context Buddhism is alive and assertive. you in this great spiritual tradition of yours”. Instead of worrying about conversions from other religions or “” which Jesus (2 ) As for spirituality, I have been a ridiculed in Matt. 23:15, we must work for the voice crying in the wilderness for the last thirty transformation of , with the Buddhists’ years! We certainly made a mistake in the West collaboration, into a reign of righteousness , despite the warning of the great Greek Father, justice and peace where all religions, races and Basil, (the sole feminist among the Church linguistic groups can live in harmony. To make a Fathers, all of whom were misogynists) when disciple of a nation is a divine mandate that he warned against the “contemplation-action” enjoins us to encourage all religions, specially paradigm of the Greeks, as an anti-biblical Buddhism in this country, to spread its message desire to “see” God whom you can only “hear” of greedless life, characterized by non-selfish in this world, and associated monastic love ( araaga ), forgiving love ( adosa ) and spirituality with a mindfulness spirituality. He sapiential love ( amoha ). We have a precedent insisted that biblical spirituality is one of in Acts 15 where a crisigenic decision was mindfulness or remembrance. I have no time taken with a view to reformulating an ancient here to develop this suggestion further but I missionary policy on conversion by reading the have done it elsewhere (See the bibliography Signs of the Times. below).

(c) Two areas in which Buddhists and The Greek Orthodox church, which was not a Christians can meet for a fruitful dialogue slave to Greek philosophy as the medieval without any fear of the occidentalist bias are Catholic Church had been (and still is in some Monastic Lifestyle and Mindfulness of its official documents) but adhered to the Spirituality. spirituality of their non-Christian ancestors, have developed the notion of nepsis, vigilance, (1) saw the dialogical watchfulness which is essential for a spiritual potentiality of monasticism and started an inter- person, i.e. a “discerning person” ( anthropos

17 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Aloysius Pieris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 diacriticos ). It is the exact homologue of others. The Rights Discourse pertains to the Buddhist appamada , watchfulness or Law that rightly exposes the sins against mindfulness that ensures immortality injustice, but provides no room for forgiveness (amatapadam ). Furthermore, in the nascent and reconciliation. In one seminar when I Christianity it is not only vigilance and referred to the human rights violations against mindfulness of God’s recurrent visitations as the Tamils from 1958-1983, the Sinhala well as of God’s past interventions that Buddhist participants questioned my silence constituted spirituality, but significantly also about the atrocities of the Chola invasion and “mindfulness of the poor”, the one and only Magha’s persecution which were incomparably thing that the first Council of Jerusalem more colossal, and irreversibly ruthless! Each recommended to its ministers (Gal . 2:10), and party fights for and is concerned with the the only thing all the subsequent councils failed violated rights of its own. Rights language in to remember until we come to Vatican II. This itself is incapable of bringing reconciliation. paradigm shift in our spiritual praxis is an Even the Buddhist Scriptures, speak of essential condition for lessening the gap responsibilities and not of rights. The Christians, between Buddhists and Christians, both Tamil and Sinhalese, must re-learn this notwithstanding the non-negotiable difference biblical language of mutual responsibility, love, with the regard to the belief in God. service, forgiveness, which are the ingredients of reconciliation. (d) This brings us to the most thorny challenge to all religions in our country, (2 ) Our Chalcedonian Christology over- mostly to the church: that of National emphasized the incarnation, by which the Word Reconciliation. We are a wounded nation, became flesh, i.e., a particular person in a and a divided nation. A war is apparently particular culture, speaking a particular won, but the hearts of millions remain yet to language. Many historians of these Councils be won before peace can be restored for (e.g. the Jesuit Cardinal Alois Grillmeyer) have good. This is an area where our beliefs need complained that Chalcedonian Christology had to be radically reformulated and our neglected the soteriological implications of the behavioural patterns changed accordingly. crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord. We There are two theological areas wherein the speak of his racial linguistic particularity as church has to change its stance. essential but we forget that in his death and resurrection, Jesus manifested himself as the (1 ) The first is the human rights language Christ in whom gender, race and class are lavishly used in church circles and the little transcended (Gal . 3:28). Thus Jesus was not attention given to the biblical discourse on caught up in the nationalism of the zealots (the human responsibilities. The former is very JVP, JHU, LTTE of his time) but opted for a essential to highlight violations and bring the humanism by making his Spirit-animated violators to books. It pertains to the Law. Now, humanity the new temple of worship – “neither the Law is essential to reveal sin, says St Paul on Mt Sion (of the Jews) nor on Mt Garizim (of but the Law cannot save us from sin; only love the ) but in Spirit and Truth”. Could can. But love does not speak in terms of rights the church, in its beliefs and behaviour, show but in terms of responsibilities. Cain was his itself to be as divinely human as God was in brother’s keeper and was responsible for the life Christ, in whom race, gender and class of Abel. We are all responsible for the lives of discrimination are totally absent?

18 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Aloysius Pieris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ananda P . Guruge, “The Mahavamsa ”, Calcutta (Birla Foundation), 1990 .

E. Harris, “Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter: Religious, Missionary and Colonial Experience in Nineteenth Century Sri Lanka ”, Routledge, 2006 .

K. Malalgoda, “Buddhism in Sinhalese Society 1750- 1900: Religious Revival and Change ”, UC Berkley, 1976.

Aloysius Pieris, s.j., “Spirituality of Mindfulness: Biblical and Buddhist Approaches ” Spiritus (Loyola Mount University, John Hopkins University Press), 10 (2010),pp. 38-51.

Aloysius Pieris, s.j. “The Asian Reality and the Christian Option: A Plea for a Paradigm Shift in Christian Education in Asia ”, Dialogue NS, Vol.xxxii-xxxiii (2005-2006), pp. 158-196.

Aloysius Pieris, s.j. , “ 50 Years of Sinhala Only, and Over 175 Years of English Only: A Christian Perspective on Linguistic Domination ”, Dialogue, NS, vol. xxxiv, 2007, pp. 19-64

Fr Aloysius Pieris S.J., founder-director of the Tulana Research Centre for Encounter and Dialogue in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, is an internationally renowned theologian, Buddhist scholar and Indologist.

19 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Elizabeth J. Harris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Reply to Dr Aloysius Pieris S.J.: What would a Christian church incarnated in the Buddhist context of Sri Lanka believe, how would it behave?

Elizabeth J Harris

The question that Aloysius Pieris was asked to Christians preached their faith or that some Sri address concerned both the belief and Lankans converted as a result. It was not the behaviour of the Christian Church in Sri Lanka. differences between the two religions. It was In addressing this, he placed particular that the Christian missionaries showed emphasis on the forms of awareness that contempt towards what Buddhists held dear in should precede belief and behaviour. With what their preaching and writing, representing levels and what types of awareness should Buddhism, for instance, as pessimistic, nihilistic Christians in Sri Lanka live? I would agree with and in league with the devilish .3 him completely that there must be historical awareness, particularly of the nineteenth Overt antagonism was not present when the century, when, under the yoke of British British missionaries began to arrive in the imperialism, the seeds of mistrust towards second decade of the nineteenth century. On Christianity that had been present long before the contrary, archival evidence shows that finally flowered into full-blown antagonism. members of the Buddhist monastic community, There is not space in this response for me to at this time, generally sought a co-existence explore the whole narrative of this but let me model of inter faith relations that was governed point to some key aspects of it using the by a code of conduct rooted in respect and research I have done into the subject over two tolerance. They had already experienced decades. 1 Roman Catholicism under the Portuguese and the Dutch Reformed Church under the Dutch, Key to the development of antagonism between and were well aware that Christianity differed Buddhists and Christians in the nineteenth from Buddhism. Probably some were distrustful century was the contempt towards Buddhism towards it. Folk stories that belittled Christianity displayed by western Christian missionaries. In were, after all, in circulation. 4 Generally, the course of my research, I came across the however, their preference was for a mode of co- record of a conversation between an Anglican existence that would allow Buddhists and Bishop and a Buddhist monk in 1863, written by Christians to live alongside each other without the former. It included this: acrimony. And they demonstrated this attitude through the hospitality they were willing to They were moved when I said that I came to extend to the early missionaries. William them (the Buddhist monks) as the teachers of Harvard, Wesleyan missionary, wrote to his the people, feeling sure that if they could be mother exultantly but with a note of surprise that convinced that my Religion was true they would he had been allowed to preach in a Buddhist wish to teach it instead of their own. They told vih āra (monastery). The year was 1816, two me that nothing had more turned them against years after the first Wesleyan missionaries had Christianity than finding themselves treated with arrived. 5 Other monastic communities allowed marked contempt by its professors . 2 the missionaries to stay overnight if they were travelling away from home. Some were even This, together with other archival evidence, has given precious Pali manuscripts and taught Pali. convinced me that the main cause of Robert Spence Hardy, another Wesleyan antagonism between Christians and Buddhists missionary, wrote retrospectively and with some during the nineteenth century was not that accuracy:

20 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Elizabeth J. Harris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

They would have been willing to enter into an who did not show contempt, such as scholar alliance with the servants of God, and would civil servants, Robert Childers, John Dickson have had no hesitation in worshipping Jesus and George Turnour, always received respect. Christ if they (the missionaries) would have worshipped Buddha. According to their ideas, One of the most tragic aspects of this , in my Jesus Christ was a good man, as Buddha was opinion , was that the process led to mutual a good man; and if Buddha was only regarded demonization. In defence of Buddhism, as the best, what should hinder the formation of Buddhists threw back at Christianity the a compact between the two systems, that would accusations that Christians had thrown at them. have brought the whole of the It was Christianity that then became nihilistic, under one religious rule ?6 irrational and uncivilised. At the Debate in 1873 – a public Buddhist-Christian As the nineteenth century progressed, a shift in debate – the main Buddhist debater, Ven attitude took place. To quote my recent book, Gun ānanda, attempted to prove, with literalistic ‘The wish for co-existence and tolerance references from the Old and New Testaments, receded, as the Buddhist monastic community that the God of the Christians was really a realised that the missionaries were not going to demon. 11 Theosophists from the West, who, reciprocate their courtesy but were bent on after the debate, came to aid the Buddhist proselytising’. 7 The monastic community, I am revival, used the same kind of vocabulary. sure, felt a sense of betrayal at this lack of Charles Leadbeater (1854-1934), for instance, reciprocity. The consequence was a robust and began his professional life as an Anglican brave wish to defend what was seen as a threat clergyman but rejected this for , to the dhamma , the truth that the Buddha Buddhism and esotericism. He lived in Sri taught. So a new phase in Buddhist revivalism Lanka from 1886-89, helping the Buddhist began, predicated on anti-Christian sentiment. revival. He was the first editor of an English- medium journal in Sri Lanka called, The The missionaries had judged the early attitude Buddhist . This is what he wrote of the of Buddhists to be foolish. They had expected a Christianity of the missionaries: struggle as the two religions battled over truth claims but found what they mistakenly judged It cannot live in peace with any other form of to be apathy or overconfidence 8. Some found faith. It holds that there is but one saviour, but the revival easier to deal with. They could one inspired book, and but one little narrow understand it better, because the Buddhist grass-grown path that leads to . Such a attitude to the religious ‘other’ had, in defence, religion is necessarily uncompromising, moved closer to their own. 9 In the accounts I unreasoning, aggressive and insolent. It has have written of this, I have quoted Wesleyan held all other creeds and forms in infinite missionary, Thomas Moscrop, who declared in contempt, divided the world into enemies and 1894, at a missionary meeting in Birmingham: friends and amply verified that awful declaration of its founder, ‘I come not to bring peace but a You have already made the inference, sword’ .12 Buddhism is alive; but have you made the further inference, drawn by us on the field, that In this quote, Leadbeater goes to an extreme. it is alive because Christianity has proved itself Yet, the kind of sentiments he expressed moved to be alive; that it has felt our grip and become into the twentieth century to inspire the periodic alarmed, aggressive ?10 Buddhist-Christian mistrust that arose. They helped to inform the ‘Occidentalism’ among Sri The contempt shown by the missionaries Lankan Buddhists that Aloysius Pieris towards Buddhist belief and practice was mentioned, which includes a continual watching central to this development. Those westerners for possible conspiracies against Buddhism that

21 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Elizabeth J. Harris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 could be linked with the West and Christianity. down a path towards liberation. I wrote: One thing, therefore, that a contemporary Christian church must avoid, if it is to be It seemed to her to encourage people to escape incarnated in a Buddhist context such as Sri personal responsibility by placing everything at Lanka, is a theology of contempt that could the feet of God. ‘Christians in church just seem increase Buddhist-Christian mistrust in the to praise and expect God’s grace to do it all!’ present. Not only, though, should Christians be she declared. Set against her knowledge of the aware of history. They must develop an Pali texts, this, frankly, seemed ridiculous . 14 awareness of Buddhist self-understanding and the judgements that Buddhists tend to make If Christians are to be incarnated within Sri about Christianity, often out of ignorance, in the Lanka, in a Buddhist context, misconceptions present. Let me illustrate this with conversations such as these must be challenged through both from my period of residence in Sri Lanka that I formal encounter and a dialogue of life. Yet, have used in my book, Buddhism for a Violent there is another side to this coin. Christians World . In 1993, a few weeks before I left Sri must also try to overcome their misconceptions Lanka, I was at a lunch party and fell into about Buddhism, by learning from Buddhists conversation with a young Buddhist woman. about what they believe and practise. This two- This is how I described it: way process should be part of what the church looks like, where Christians live in a minority After hearing that I was a Christian and had amongst Buddhists. Some Christians still studied Buddhism for over seven years, she believe Buddhism is idolatrous. Some condemn expressed amazement that I had not converted it as syncretistic. Perhaps the most common and added something like this, ‘But you only accusation is that Buddhism cannot offer a have a lesser goal, you only worship a god. You salvific path or liberative truth because don’t have nibbãna.’ I could see where she was Buddhism has no Saviour. Buddhists would coming from. In Sri Lankan Buddhism, there are want to challenge Christians on all three. All gods but they are in need of the Buddha’s three, in fact, bear false witness against teaching, for the in which they reside Buddhism and are the result of a refusal to seek are within the round of birth and . The an understanding of Buddhism that is rooted in Buddha is described in the Pali Canon as Buddhist self-understanding. ‘teacher of gods and humans’. These gods can be petitioned for mundane blessings but they I have pointed to two awarenesses that have nothing to do with gaining ultimate Christians should develop if they are living in a liberation. Many Buddhists in Sri Lanka assume country such as Sri Lanka, a majority Buddhist that Christianity is only about the worship of one country that has suffered the burden of of these gods. If they do think beyond this, the European colonialism. The first is an awareness image they often have of the Christian god is of of the damage that a theology of contempt can an inscrutable external force that metes out wreak on Buddhist-Christian relations. The punishment and joy arbitrarily, leading to second is an awareness that both Christians fatalism in devotees. Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Buddhists have misconceptions about the also express surprise when told that Christians other, misconceptions that are hard to shift, sometimes meditate or sit in silent because, on both sides, they are linked to contemplation .13 issues of belief. On the Theravãda Buddhist side, they are related to difficulties in In the same chapter, I also mentioned Professor recognising that the Christian God may be Lily de Silva, an inspirational teacher of different from the Buddhist ‘gods’. On the Buddhism and Pali in Sri Lanka. She once Christian side, they involve difficulties in shared with me that Christianity had always recognizing how a non-theistic religion can be appeared ‘thin’ to her, because it did not set affirmed as possessing salvific goodness.

22 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Elizabeth J. Harris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Before closing, I would like to outline two on inter faith relations that several Christian models of the kind of action that might help denominations in Britain accepted in the 1990s. Christians avoid both a theology of contempt, The Code was originally produced by the Inter and misunderstandings between Buddhists and Faith Network for the United Kingdom and its Christians. The first is a dialogue of life that has principles included the following: learning to no evangelistic agenda. My own awareness of understand what others actually believe and this model was influenced by a visit, in 1987, to value and letting them express them in their Alukalavita, a Buddhist village near Buttala, in own terms; always seeking to avoid violence in the Province of Uva, in the south of Sri Lanka, our relationships; being honest about our beliefs to stay with Father Michael Rodrigo, a Catholic and religious allegiances; being straightforward priest, who, after an academic career, chose to in our intentions; respecting the right of others to establish a small non-proselytising Christian disagree with us. 16 It, therefore, endorsed community there. At the heart of his non- mutual respect, transparency and honesty – the threatening presence in Alukalavita was a reverse of the contempt and the wish to dialogue of life rooted in spiritual values and the undermine ‘the other’ that was present in the deep respect Rodrigo already had for nineteenth century missionary enterprise. Buddhism. As Rodrigo himself documented, the Christians from both the evangelical and liberal attitudes of Buddhists towards his presence wings of the churches were able to accept it. changed considerably over the years that followed. At first there was suspicion, since the This is a model that encourages respectful villagers believed he had come to proselytise. debate and conversation about differences and When they realised that proselytisation was not misconceptions. This is the kind of debate part of his agenda, suspicion changed to trust pioneered by Sri Lankan Methodist , and love. 15 By extension, the attitudes of the Lynn de Silva, who was one of the first villagers to Christianity as a whole changed Christians in Sri Lanka in the twentieth century from mistrust to respect. Sri Lanka has the to call for an intellectual debate on the inspiration of other pioneers to draw on also: differences and similarities between Buddhism Aloysius Pieris himself; Yohan Devananda, and Christianity in a context of mutual respect. 17 Audrey Rebera and others. My first model, It also demands absolute transparency from therefore, is a non-proselytising dialogue of life both Buddhists and Christians. Christians, for that has the potential to lead to mutual instance, if they were true to this model, would enrichment and mutual learning. not move into a new geographical region for the purpose of church growth without making My second model is actually based on the co- contact with Buddhist leaders to explain what existence model that I believe the Buddhist they wanted to do. In addition, any acts of monks sought at the beginning of the violence, verbal or non-verbal, against what nineteenth century. One of their first reactions Buddhists hold dear, would be avoided. to aggressive preaching by Christian I believe that there is biblical backing for both missionaries was to send petitions to the these models and that a church incarnated in colonial government that both protested against the Sri Lankan context should be able to affirm the actions of the missionaries and also both, recognising their differing roles. If these suggested principles of tolerance and respect are combined with the ‘awarenesses’ that I have that would redress their grievances. It is outlined, which echo the words of Aloysius significant that the principles were very similar Pieris, then I believe the Christian church of Sri to those recommended in a Code of Conduct Lanka would be truly incarnated in its country.

23 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Elizabeth J. Harris Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

1 See for example Elizabeth J Harris, 2006, Therav āda Buddhism and the British Encounter: religious, missionary and colonial experience in nineteenth century Sri Lanka, London & New York: Routledge, particularly pp. 191-204; Elizabeth J Harris, 2010, Buddhism for a Violent World: A Christian Reflection , London: Epworth Press, particularly pp. 131-136. 2 Bishop Claughton writing to Revd E. Hawkins from Colombo, 13 January 1863 (Ceylon Letters Vol. II their faithUSPG Archives), quoted in Harris, 2006: 189 and Harris, 2010: 119. 3 See, for instance, Harris, 2006, particularly: 53-61; 101-109. 4 See Richard F. Young and G.S.B. Senanayake, 1998, The Carpenter Heretic: A Collection of Buddhist Stories about Christianity from 18 th Century Sri Lanka, Colombo: Karunaratne & Sons, which is a translation of folk stories from the Dutch colonial period in Sri Lanka that ridicule Jesus. Mentioned in Harris, 2006: 192. 5 See Harris, 2006: 192. 6 Robert Spence Hardy, 1865, The Jubilee Memorials of the Wesleyan Mission, South Ceylon , Colombo: Wesleyan Mission Press: 286, quoted in Harris, 2006: 193 and Harris, 2010: 132. 7 Harris, 2010: 133. 8. Harris, 2006: 195 9 Harris, 2010: 134 10 T Moscrop, 1894, ‘Christianity and Buddhism in South Ceylon: a missionary speech’ in Monthly Literary Register (Colombo), II, New Series 12, December 1894: 285-7. Quoted in Harris, 2006: 201 and Harris, 2010: 134. 11 See Harris, 2006, Theravãda Buddhism and the British Encounter: 202; Harris, 2010, Buddhism for a Violent World :135 12 C.W. Leadbeater, ‘Wesak/Wesak Compliments’ in The Buddhist , I, 22: 172-4, here 173-4, quoted in Harris, 2006, Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter : 204 and Harris 2010: 135. See Harris 2006: 139-147 for further information about the theosophists in Sri Lanka 13 Harris, 2010: 147. 14 Harris, 2010: 148 15 See Michael Rodrigo, 1993, ‘The Hope of Liberation Lessens Man’s Inhumanity: A Contribution to Dialogue at Village Level’ in R. S. Sugirtharajah (ed.), Asian Faces of Jesus, London: SCM: 189-210. See also Harris 2010: 139-144 and Elizabeth J Harris, 2000, ‘Competition, Co-operation and Reconciliation in Inter Faith Relations’ Part Two of a series on Evangelism and Dialogue, Thinking Mission series: London: USPG. 16 The Inter Faith Network of the United Kingdom was founded in 1987 to bring together, on an equal playing field, nine faith communities, inter faith groups and educational institutions promoting inter faith dialogue. Its Code of Conduct, Building Good Relationships with People of Different and Beliefs , can be downloaded from www.interfaith.org.uk 17 See for example, Rev. Lynn de Silva, ‘The Christian Attitude to Buddhism’ in , 2 August 1966: 6. One of his best known publications was, 1975, The Problem of Self in Buddhism and Christianity , Colombo: Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue (then the Study Centre for Religion and Society).

Elizabeth J Harris is Senior Lecturer in the Comparative Study of Religion at Liverpool Hope University in the UK, specializing in and Inter-Faith Studies. Previous to this she served as Inter Faith Officer for the Methodist Church in Britain. She was resident in Sri Lanka between 1986 and 1993, during which she worked as Research Assistant to Aloysius Pieris s.j. and completed her doctorate. She is currently President of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies. Her publications include: What Buddhists Believe (Oneworld, 1998), Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter: Religious, missionary and colonial experience in nineteenth century Sri Lanka (Routledge, 2007).

24 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

The Transformation of Christian Self-Understanding in Relation to Buddhism

Perry Schmidt-Leukel

1. Which Buddhism? foreign colonial dominion was not with a Christian but with a Buddhist nation. Hence it is When we reflect on “Christian Self- no surprise that Christianity could gain far more Understanding in the Context of Buddhism” the support in this nation than in many others. Yet first question that will naturally arise is about this again is a fact that can easily create feelings which kind of Buddhism we have in mind (given of caution and concern on the side of the that the particular kind of Christianity is already Korean Buddhists. defined by the “we”). This question will relate, in the first instance, to the diversity of Buddhist Another phenomenon in this context is the traditions, branches and schools , and also to Western development of what might be named their national or local specifications . By way of “Buddhism light ”, that is a kind of Buddhism that its numerous branches Buddhism has is not only losing its bonds with Asian Buddhism developed a wide spectrum of different but also its religious roots and is turning into viewpoints and different emphases that open up some psychology or life-style “without beliefs” 3, different perspectives when related to or even degenerating into a commercial offer of Christianity. Buddhist-Christian relations are superficial spirituality. markedly different, for example, in Sri Lanka, Korea, 1, or the USA. Often Western admirers and Eastern apologists have presented Buddhism in a very idealised Yet this diversity of Buddhist schools and and romanticised way, not infrequently thereby traditions is not the only aspect that I have in contrasting a purportedly entirely peaceful, non- mind. When looking at religions, or religious violent, tolerant, open-minded, liberal, traditions, we should not forget that we look at ecological, rational, scientific, etc Buddhism people, as Wilfred Cantwell Smith once with a Christianity that is accused of emphatically reminded the academic world. 2 exemplifying all of the opposite features. There Hence there is a diversity of Buddhisms in are indications that this romanticised image of terms of a diversity of Buddhists. In relation to Buddhism is getting its cracks and might Christianity this is most relevant when we ask ultimately give way to a more balanced and what kind of exposure to Christianity these realistic perception .4 This is basically a healthy Buddhists have had. Let me mention some and wholesome development. Yet in relation to examples: There are Asian Buddhists whose Christianity this development has its own Buddhism is still strongly informed by those who ambiguities: On the one hand, it could developed their understanding of Buddhism as encourage Buddhists to venture a more self- part and parcel of their reaction against Western critical analysis of their own tradition and and Christian colonialism . Similarly, the thereby make them more sensitive in relation to Buddhism of Christian converts to Buddhism the problematic aspects that are shared by all will be markedly different, in its relation to religions, including their own. On the other Christianity, from the Buddhism of those who hand, it may nourish new forms of Christian never had any problematic history with superiority claims and thereby drive Buddhists Christianity as, for example, in the case of the into a position of renewed apologetic defence. Tibetan Buddhists. In some parts of the world, The latter is hardly a desirable situation, and it e.g. in Korea, the painful experience with will be a challenging task for the future to

25 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 develop ways of justified and necessary to be continuous with, though nevertheless , whether intra-religious or inferior to Christianity insofar as it was lacking inter-religious, without gaining from this any the proper, namely personal, or better three- polemical or apologetic capital. personal, concept of God.

Finally, I would like to mention one further type Today, I think, we can affirm with some degree of Buddhism: the Buddhism of Buddhist- of certainty that at least traditional Buddhism, 5 Christian dual-belongers . They too understand whether in its early pre- mah āyānistic or its later themselves as Buddhists, not as 50% Buddhist Mah āyāna forms, was not “atheistic” in the and 50% Christian but as being both 100%. Western sense of the word. The question is to Reflecting Christian self-understanding in the a large extent of a hermeneutical . In the context of the Buddhism of Buddhist-Christian West, the naturalist denial of a transcendent dual-belongers will obviously be very different reality took the form of atheism because the from a reflection in relation to those who would dominant concept of transcendence was consider this kind of double-belonging an “theistic”. Denying God meant denying impossibility. 6 transcendent reality. This was markedly different at the time of early Buddhism. So when we consider Christian self- Buddhism was – and to a large extent still is – understanding in the context of “Buddhism” we “non-theistic”, that is, it denies the idea of a need to take into account the kind of stance that personal creator-God but it does not deny the respective Buddhists have in relation to transcendence as such. 8 In classical Buddhism Christianity. For this has not only an impact on nirv āṅa is clearly affirmed as a “transcendent” their version of Buddhism but, as a result, also (lokuttara ) and “unconditioned” ( asa ṅsk ṛta ) on the corresponding self-understanding of reality. There was a group at the time of early Christians in relation to these specific forms of Buddhism which did indeed reject Buddhism. If these differences between various transcendence in whatever form, namely the Buddhisms are neglected, certain statements materialist C ārv ākas. Yet early Buddhism was that Christians make or made in relation to a very critical of them precisely because of their particular kind of Buddhism might all too easily denial of and ultimate salvation. be mistaken as an assessment of Buddhism in its totality and hence create unnecessary Nevertheless, there are both, contemporary irritations. Buddhists and contemporary Christians, who still present Buddhism as atheism in the naturalistic, that is, transcendence-negating 2. Buddhism and the Question of God sense. As far as they are Christians, it usually has something to do with their polemical- A crucial issue for Christian self-understanding apologetic interests. 9 As far as they are in relation to Buddhism has always been, and Buddhists, it is usually due to the respective still is, the question of God. In the 19 th century, “Christian history” that they have had. That is, when modern Western interpretations of they are either informed by the anti-Christian Buddhism emerged, we basically find two effect of anti-colonial Buddhism or they are different strands: Some Western interpreters Christian converts to Buddhism, or, as in the regarded Buddhism as a kind of atheism while case of Paul Williams, ex-converts or better re- others saw it as a form of . 7 If converts who still stress the antagonism Buddhism was perceived as atheistic, Christian between Buddhism and Christianity. 10 For those theologians interpreted it as a false philosophy Christians who continue seeing Buddhism as and as standing in an antagonistic relationship atheism, the only appropriate Christian self- towards Christianity. If, however, Buddhism was understanding is to constantly remind oneself understood as a form of mysticism, it was held and one’s fellow Christians of the duty, as they

26 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 perceive it, to work towards the conversion of Buddhism for decades. De Silva took off by Buddhists to Christianity. 11 assuming that Buddhist understanding of transcendence is genuine though deficient and Christians who reject the understanding of needs to be complemented and fulfilled by Buddhism as atheism can be distinguished Christianity. 16 Yet towards the end of his life he broadly into two camps: On the one hand we understood that Buddhism and Christianity still find those who realise that Buddhism is complement each other, that they are different indeed aware – in its own ways – of but nevertheless on the same plane. 17 transcendence, yet honestly believe that the Buddhist understanding of this reality is Many Christians who do not see Buddhism as seriously deficient. The Vatican declaration deficient but simply as different, feel that the Dominus Iesus (2000), although not specifically traditional Christian understanding of related to Buddhism, is as much an expression transcendence can be enriched by studying of this position 12 as is Mark Heim’s influential Buddhism. They feel that the strong and earnest book The Depth of the Riches , where Buddhist emphasis on the ineffability of ultimate Buddhism’s awareness of transcendence is reality can function as a much-needed antidote interpreted as an authentic but only partial and to Christian dogmatism, an insight that had deficient grasp of some aspects of the divine already been expressed by the late Thomas Trinity. 13 Merton after his famous Polonnaruwa experience. 18 The admittance that the reality to This, however, is not the whole scenario. Today which Christians refer by the term “God” is not we find a number of Christians – among only beyond human understanding but also theologians as well as, I guess, ordinary beyond everything that human words might believers – who hold that the Buddhist concepts express, is of course a traditional, perfectly of transcendence are not inferior to their orthodox, but unfortunately too often neglected Christian counterparts but are just different or Christian teaching. It is a cause of great concern even complementary and are basically of equal that a document like Dominus Iesus denies that soteriological validity. The general idea is that human language and concepts set limits to our Buddhist concepts of transcendence are capacity of expressing the truth about God 19 , expressive of different but nevertheless equally thereby contradicting the overwhelming bulk of valid and equally salvific experiences of the the Christian theological tradition. In this same transcendent reality. That is, not different respect, Buddhism might even help Christianity expressions of the same experience, but to find back to its own previous . expressions of different experiences with the same reality! “Nirv āṅa”, “Dharmak āya” or “God” On the other hand, the view that Buddhist are not different words for the same thing. They notions of transcendence are different but not have different meanings and are part of different inferior to the Christian ones entails that conceptual contexts. As such they relate to Christianity is not in principle superior to different experiences, which can, however, be Buddhism. This is of course a dramatic change understood as different experiences with the in Christian self-understanding but one that same ultimate reality. 14 This is, of course, what might turn out to be entirely justified. It does not has so lucidly suggested in his only do justice to the Christian tradition of seminal, though frequently mis -understood or acknowledging the infinite difference between misrepresented work An Interpretation of the nature of God and all finite human glimpses Religion .15 It is also the conclusion that such a of it, it also implies that the different conceptions careful and meticulous pioneer of Buddhist- of transcendence in Buddhism and Christianity, Christian dialogue as Lynn A. de Silva arrived particularly when understood as reflecting at, after having contemplated the self- different experiences with transcendence, might understanding of Christianity in relation to be mutually enriching. 20 This involves that not

27 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 only Christians might learn from Buddhism but nevertheless equally valid -gates? 22 that Buddhists too might gain inspiration from Christian insights. I will come back to this later. Buddhist thinking about the nature of its own doctrines has been interpreted in the West as akin to certain features of contemporary 3. The Nature of Doctrine deconstructionist philosophy. Be that as it may. For Christians it does not only remind them of If ultimate reality is beyond human words and their own apophatic tradition, it raises the concepts – as it is equally affirmed by question of how Christian doctrines are related Therav āda, Mah āyāna and the Christian to forms of Christian experiences. This touches tradition – what then is the nature of all the a vital nerve. To me it seems evident that much various doctrines and teachings? In the West, of the loss of Christian credibility in Western Buddhism is often presented as a “religion” or society is due to the fact that Christian language weltanschauung that is entirely non-dogmatic. no longer speaks to the people, and is no longer This, I guess, is highly misleading although understood by the people, because it no longer there is an element of truth in it. While elucidates and no longer evokes genuine Therav āda tends to be comparatively religious experiences. The gigantic gap “dogmatic” in its approach to the teachings of between Christian official language and the the Tipitaka, it never denied – at least reality of the peoples’ experience is for theoretically – statements like the famous Christianity an issue of life and death. Christian parable of the raft. This parable implies that life dies wherever this gap widens and deepens Buddhist teachings pursue the practical – Christian life flourishes where this gap is purpose of getting over to the other shore of bridged, regardless by what kind of bridge. This Nirv āṅa, which is ineffable. Yet it was the great explains the success of Pentecostal forms of Mah āyāna N āgārjuna who drew Christianity which seem to revive the world of from this the conclusion that all the taught the and it was also true in doctrines need to be considered as relation to the “base communities” of Latin conventional or relative truth, and not as truth American liberation theology which promised to in the ultimate sense, which remains beyond translate the New Testament’s message of human words and understanding. This does not sōtēria “salvation/liberation” into something mean that N āgārjuna would relativise the experiencable in terms of social and political Buddhist teachings in relation to the teachings change. The Buddhist understanding of of other religions. For N āgārjuna relative truth is doctrine as something that needs to be indispensable for reaching the absolute truth 21 , understood in relation to experience should be and apparently for him only the Buddhist seen by Christians as of vital importance: We doctrine is this indispensable “relative truth”. I need to find ways of expressing the Christian have not come across any indication that teachings that elucidate the experiential Nāgārjuna would, for example, also include any dimension of these teachings and thus present Vedic teachings among the kind of conventional them as a true life option. Personally, I do not truth that leads to the ultimate, liberating insight. believe that and Liberation However, Buddhism might be able to expand its Theology are the only ways of how this can be own self-understanding in relation to other achieved. religions along those lines. The question is therefore: Can Buddhism see the teachings and Another important insight that emerges from the corresponding practices of other religions also Buddhist version of deconstructionism 23 is the as rafts that take you to the other shore? Can it insight into the fabricated nature of our accept them as different sets of conventional identities. Christian self-understanding in the truth that guide their followers equally well to the context of Buddhism might crucially mean: to ineffable ultimate – as different though take into account the Buddhist deconstruction

28 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 of the “self” in relation to our various religious Learning how to meditate has attracted self-identities! We all know that in the name of Christians to Buddhism, and learning how to religious identity, whether Christian, Muslim, reinterpret Christian teachings in the light of Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist, horrendous suffering meditational experiences has kept them going may be inflicted upon those who are perceived on that path. as not being part of this identity or as being a threat to this identity. The recent violent history Yet there is a much deeper dimension to this of Sri Lanka provides another sad example of than one might guess at the first sight. Buddhist this general fact. Yet, the insight that our self- meditational practice can change the whole concepts are human constructs, whether on the attitude towards religious life. For everything individual or on the collective level, may help us that one does or does not, that one or to construct our identities in ways that are less does not believe, that one explores or rejects, exclusive and less likely to inflict suffering upon assumes the character of an exciting journey. others. In the end, it might even direct us to Buddhist practice can foster an understanding letting go all sorts of religious labelling and of Christian practice that is not prefigured by the seeing each one of us as just the unique and Christian milieu and not dictated by the force of unmistakable individual that each of us is, a homogenous Christian society nor understood without thinking of ourselves or our neighbours as an act of duty or as obedience to in such stereotypes as the Christian, the unquestionable command -ments but rather as Buddhist, the Hindu, the Muslim, etc. 24 an attractive and profound path that is worth to pursue because it is so close to the heartbeat of life. I dare to say that under the impact of 4. Buddhist Practical Methods Buddhist practice many Christians have rediscovered the original meaning of Christian The awareness that Buddhist doctrines are life as a “way”. 25 intrinsically and inseparably related to specific forms of experiences, to a way of living and a This aspect, I guess, might also be an important religious practice that can bring these motive behind the so-called intermonastic experiences about, is probably the most dialogue. Monastic life can be regarded as a important factor in changing the Christian self- very specific, 24-hours a day, form of understanding in relation to Buddhism during meditational practice. Monastic life is dedicating the past five decades. What has transformed oneself wholeheartedly and exclusively to the Christian view of Buddhism was not in the specific forms of spiritual practice. Through first instance a better understanding of the intermonastic dialogue Buddhist and Christian Buddhist teachings but the serious participation monastics may therefore achieve a mutual in Buddhist practice, or, to be more precise, the understanding that penetrates deeply into the better understanding of Buddhist teachings as it spiritual realm of the other. But I am not a monk was enabled by entering into Buddhist practice. and I do not want to speak too much about I think it is hard to overestimate the impact that things of which I have no insider experience. Yet Christian practice of Zen-Meditation and – I strongly feel that the intermonastic dialogue is though to a lesser extent – Therav āda or – and needs to remain – one of the central Tibetan forms of meditation have had on the beams in the architecture of Buddhist-Christian Christian understanding of Buddhism and relations. thereby on the Christian self-understanding in the context of Buddhism. Buddhist practice has The Christian entry into Buddhist practice is opened up for many Christians a way of how to presumably the most important factor behind regain a meaningful and experiencable spiritual the development of hybrid identities. 26 Although life beyond the options of evangelical/ there are some few cases of Christians who are pentecostal practice or political activism. primarily attracted to the intellectual

29 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 expressions of Buddhism 27 , in most cases it transcendence-negating atheism. Another was or is apparently the adoption of Buddhist reason, though probably more influential in practices that led Christians to developing Protestant than in Catholic circles, was the religious double identities. This may also exclusivistic claim that salvation is found in no explain why there are apparently far more other name than the name of Jesus Christ, a Buddhist-Christian dual-belongers with a claim that was either presented in an Christian background than those, if any, with a evangelical form or along the lines of Karl Buddhist background. This imbalance might Barth’s so-called “Dialectical Theology”. Despite look differently if Buddhists felt comparatively decades of fruitful theological dialogue, the view attracted to forms of Christian spiritual practices that Buddhism and Christianity pursue as vice versa . That the practice of Buddhist irreconcilable goals has not yet disappeared. An forms of meditation by Christians is a gateway infamous reoccurrence were the statements in to various kinds of multi-religious identities was Pope John-Paul II’s book The Threshold of perhaps already foreseen by the Vatican when Hope where he accused Buddhism of having a in 1989 it issued its warning that attempts to pessimistic and escapist concept of salvation. harmonise Christian and Eastern meditation His statements did not only provoke angry may lead to syncretism. 28 Moreover, the text protests from the Buddhist side during his visit refers to an attitude of self-sufficiency (“To to Sri Lanka in 1995, but also some dialogical remain in oneself”) as the real danger of and rather constructive efforts to amend the misguided forms of meditation (cf. no. 19). picture. 30 These discussions made it clear that However, the then Cardinal Ratzinger’s remark the Pope’s position depended on earlier of 1997 about Buddhism as a sort of “spiritual Christian misinterpretations of Buddhism, which auto-eroticism” was presumably not directed are interconnected with the perception of against Buddhism as such but was meant to Buddhism as atheism and are equally highlight a problematic feature of a widespread questionable. However, as it is usually the case, Western perception of Buddhism. 29 It would these more balanced and differentiated views indeed be an absurd accusation given that the never reached the same broad audience and spiritual goal of Buddhist practice is precisely thus tended to have a much smaller impact. the liberation from all forms of self-centredness. An interesting and perhaps symptomatic example of how exclusivistic perceptions may 5. Salvation nevertheless change among Christians is the development of Mark Heim’s understanding of This takes us to an issue that – in addition to Buddhist Nirv āṅa. In his 1985 book Is Christ the the question of God – can be seen as the Only Way? , which was written from a largely second most crucial question in Buddhist- evangelical perspective, Heim already Christian relationship, the issue of salvation. suggested that God might allow Buddhists to When Christians and Buddhists proclaim a arrive at their desired goal of Nirv āṅa, but that, message of salvation and when both strive for from a Christian point of view, this Nirv āṅa is salvation as their ultimate goal are they moving “not noticeably different from hell”. 31 Ten years into different, perhaps even opposite directions? later, in his work which made him a Or are they pursuing complementary, similar or rather famous theologian , because this book even identical goals? appeared to be based on a Christian adoption of post-modernist – and hence in some circles In the late 19 th and early 20 th century the quite fashionable – philosophies, he seemed to predominant view was that Christians and allow in a more neutral way for a diversity of Buddhists move into opposite directions. One radically different, even incommensurable reason for this was the widespread Christian “salvations” or religious ends without making perception of Buddhism as a form of any attempt of assessing those ends or of

30 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 integrating them into one overarching religious Second, Heim’s model does in fact not leave or metaphysical narrative. This interpretation of any room for diversity within the concept of Mark Heim’s book pleased post-modern “salvation”. In the end, only the Christian end intellectuals but was nevertheless not entirely constitutes “salvation”. Other religions’ ends and faithful to the text itself. For even in Salvations the respective paths can be seen, from Heim’s Heim still suggested – in line with his earlier Christian perspective, as salvific – to some views – that “Christians may rightly continue to degree – only if they exhibit a certain nearness view the achievement of these alternative to the Christian concept. Hence, it is quite religious ends as something to be avoided, consistent that Heim has now rejected his even in cases carrying some measure of the former talk of “salvations” in the plural. This meaning of ‘damnation’.” 32 however shows that his model is far away from being “more pluralistic” than Meanwhile, Heim has further elaborated on this as he himself and others had claimed. 34 understanding in his book The Depth of the Riches (2001), where – in contrast to Salvations Heim’s approach – which is just a new version – he now confines the word “salvation” to the of classical – is not the only Christian end. As mentioned before, according theological possibility to relate the Buddhist and to Heim other ends, including the Buddhist one, Christian paths of salvation. Pioneers of are valid and indeed worth of being pursued Buddhist-Christian dialogue, like Lynn de Silva only in so far as they participate to some extent or Aloysius Pieris, have already decades ago in that reality that constitutes the goal of suggested the model of complementarity. De Christianity: the Trinitarian God. While Christian Silva, towards the end of his life, explained this salvation, according to Heim, is in its as the complementarity of “intimacy” and the participating vision of the communion of the “ultimacy” as two fundamental features of Trinitarian persons, other ends can be salvific human experience of transcendence. Within only to a lesser extent and only to the degree Christianity, “intimacy”, which corresponds to a that they are based on the participating vision personal representation of transcendence, has of a reality that might be understood by become more prominent, while in Buddhism Christians as an aspect of the Trinity. The “ultimacy”, with the corresponding non-personal perfect selflessness of Buddhist Nirv āṅa or the concepts of transcendence, took the lead. But insight into emptiness in Mah āyāna may thus both aspects are present in both traditions and be seen as glimpses of the perfect selflessness belong together. 35 Pieris, as it is well known, and emptiness of the three Trinitarian persons speaks of the complementarity of “wisdom” and in their complete self-emptying by “love” (or “ gnosis ” and “ agape ”) as the two remainderlessly focussing on each other. 33 “complementary idioms that need each other to mediate the self-transcending experience called I am not going to discuss Heim’s ideas here any ‘salvation’.” 36 I would like to add a third further, but want to highlight just two points: possibility of how to describe this complementarity, that is, the complementarity First, they make it clear – and I think rightly so of non-attachment and loving involvement. It is – that the Christian assessment of the Buddhist commonly known that overcoming attachment soteriological end corresponds to and depends is as much a crucial feature of Buddhist on how it is related to the respective Christian spirituality as loving concern for the world is end. Christian self-understanding is correlated within Christianity. Yet these two central values with the Christian understanding of the Gospel. are not opposed. They could deteriorate into And Christian self-understanding in the context opposite qualities if the one had no inner affinity of Buddhism corresponds to the correlation of towards the other. But this is not the case. the Gospel and the Buddhist message of Buddhist non-attachment is genuine only if it is liberation ( vimukti , vimutti ). accompanied by unrestricted, non-

31 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 discriminating “loving kindness” or that there is something important to learn from “compassion”. And loving involvement with the others. “Most religious faith”, as Cornille states, world needs to be accompanied by genuine “is based on a belief in the fullness and freedom from the world. Non-attachment and sufficiency of one’s own religious teachings and loving involvement are not just complementary, practices” 40 and is thus little or not at all inclined they are mutually conditioning. Each of the two to admit the possibility of learning something protects the other against degenerating into essential from the religious other. However, if what Buddhaghosa (4 th to 5 th centuries CE) the Buddhist and the Christian path of salvation called its “near enemy”, that is, a spiritual are complementary, there can be mutual attitude that looks similar but is in fact the learning. essential opposite: Without love, non- attachment would become cold indifference and As I have said so far, Christians learned from without non-attachment, love might just be a Buddhists to modify a too strongly theistic camouflage of selfish greed. 37 understanding of God and rediscovered the importance of the apophatic tradition. Christians Understanding the Buddhist and the Christian in dialogue with Buddhism have begun path of salvation not as identical but as incorporating Buddhist soteriological complementary provides us with a more pragmatism into their own understanding of satisfactory solution than Mark Heim: doctrine, or better, of the function of doctrine. First, it agrees that any talk about the salvific Christians have studied meditation under character, or not, of other religions needs not to Buddhist masters and the incorporation of presuppose a uniform concept of salvation. The Buddhist practice into their own Christian question is rather of a criteriological nature: Can spiritual practice has been and still is changing Buddhists, within the context of their concept of their self-understanding as Christians up to the salvation, identify the Christian path as point of developing dual religious identities. Yet “salvific”? And conversely, can Christians, within can anything comparable be observed among the context of the Christian understanding of Buddhists? salvation, identify the Buddhist path as salvific? My suggested answer is: Both can if they Certainly, Buddhists involved in dialogue with understand the complementarity of both paths. Christians, as for example Thich Nhat Han, Second, this view does not deny or trivialise the , or Sulak Sivaraksa, to mention just differences between both paths. On the a few names from different Buddhist traditions, contrary, it understands these differences as an have all affirmed that Christianity challenges opportunity for mutual learning and Buddhism to rediscover the spiritual importance transformation. of social responsibility, which demonstrates that the complementarity I just mentioned, is In 2008 Catherine Cornille published her book operative in this process. But today I would like The im-Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue 38 to raise a question that goes further: Can which I regard as one of the most profound and Buddhists learn from Christians in relation to important publications in the field. The book is central features of Christian spirituality like not that pessimistic about dialogue as its title forgiveness and hope? Like us Christians , might initially suggest. It describes the virtues Buddhists are human, which means, Buddhists that real dialogue requires and honestly raises too become guilty. Buddhists too experience the question whether religions are capable and despair. Buddhism has its own traditional ways willing to develop them. A central virtue, of coping with despair and guilt – one’s own as according to Cornille, is “humility” understood well as the guilt of one’s neighbour. But how as “openness and receptiveness toward the conducive are these Buddhist ways towards truth of the other religion”. 39 Such openness hope and towards forgiveness? Are hope and implies that one’s own religion is not perfect, forgiveness qualities that Buddhists can assess

32 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 as spiritually wholesome? Or are they to be Buddhist-Christian dialogue has moved a good seen as forms of illusion? The Christian deal into the direction that Whitehead pointed understanding of hope and forgiveness is out: Christians have started to inquire into grounded in their understanding of Buddhist interpretations of Jesus. And transcendence itself. Can Buddhists understand Buddhists also inquire into Christian views of this? Can they share this? Do they want it? That the Buddha. Interestingly this has happened is, can Buddhists identify in their own simultaneously – and without coordination – understandings of the transcendent features within the Society for Buddhist-Christian that would also support forgiveness and hope? Studies 43 in the US and the European Network Supposedly the different traditions of Buddhism of Buddhist-Christian Studies .44 Although the old will produce different answers to these opposition between merely man and God questions. Nevertheless, the questions, I feel, incarnate or between teacher and saviour is still concern all of them. Yet it is not for me to give very much present in these inquiries, gradually the answers. a more fully and more complicated picture emerges: The Buddha, according to the Buddhist tradition – not only according to 6. and Jesus Christ Mah āyāna – is not merely man, but is beyond and above the sa ṃsāric categories of “gods The focus in which the various rays of Buddhist- and men”, 45 is, in a sense, a “nirvanized” human Christian theological encounter are bundled is being, someone who has become transparent the relation between the Buddha and the Christ. to that reality which is beyond sa ṃsāra , Within the context of “Buddhism light”, but also someone who is the visible Nirv āṅa and the within modern anti-Christian Buddhist polemics visible Dharma. 46 or anti-Buddhist Christian polemics, the Buddha is usually presented as being “merely” human, So the Buddha too is seen as an “embodiment” not God, as being just a teacher, not a saviour. or “incarnation” of the transcendent: he is the From various Buddhist perspectives this can be Dharma that became “body”/ “k āya ” – an idea 47 presented as an advantage over Christianity: that we already find in the P āli Tipitaka and The latter’s elevation of Jesus to the status of that later became so prominent in Mah āyāna. God and saviour is seen as an expression of its Jesus Christ appears in the New Testament mythological, irrational, at best spiritually initially as a teacher, but as a teacher in the immature, at worst spiritually harmful nature. prophetic tradition, that is, as someone who From a polemical Christian perspective this speaks under the influence of the Spirit of God. contradistinction carries the opposite values. Seeing Christ as God incarnate means that not Here it marks that the Buddha was merely man, just his teachings but his whole existence while Jesus Christ is God, that the Buddha was functions as a revelation of God. Not just his merely a teacher, alongside many others, while words, his being is an embodiment of the Spirit. Jesus Christ is God incarnate, the only lord and If the Buddha’s life embodies the Dharma, saviour. 41 Christ’s life embodies what he called the “reign/kingdom of God”, the merciful relation in As early as in 1926, which God stands to us. The Buddha and the tried to break up the narrowness of this Christ function in their own ways as mediators contradistinction by famously suggesting: of a transcendent reality which itself is the ultimate source of any hope for salvation or The Buddha gave his doctrine to enlighten the liberation, a hope that is manifest and mediated world: Christ gave his life. It is for Christians to through the Buddha and the Christ. Michael von discern the doctrine. Perhaps in the end the Brück and Whalen Lai once called them “‘gifts’ most valuable part of the doctrine of the Buddha from the dimension of the ineffable who have is its interpretation of his life. 42 become word”. 48

33 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

For those Christians who see Buddhism and in dialogue with Islam and Judaism we might Christianity as complementary and who believe emphasize as common ground not that Dharma and God are the same, but that and might downplay the incarnation while in both concepts point in different ways to the dialogue with Buddhism and some forms of same transcendent reality, the insight into the Hinduism we might emphasize the non-theistic mediatory role that both traditions ascribe to the apophatic tradition and talk – as I just did – Buddha and the Christ inevitably triggers two about the possibility of plural incarnations. further questions 49 : First, is it theologically However, if dialogue is not diplomacy but a possible to assume more than one incarnation? serious form of theological learning we need to Second, what might it mean existentially to strive for consistency. We need a doctrine of accept both, the Buddha and the Christ as God in which the theistic and apophatic mediators of the transcendent? elements are well integrated and a Christology that understands incarnation in a way that does In response to the first question, various justice equally well to what we learn from Jews theologians, both Protestant and Catholic have and as to what we learn from argued that from a Christology that is true to its Buddhists and Hindus. New Testament roots, that is seeing Jesus as the embodiment of the Spirit, the notion of Second, interfaith dialogue is no longer multiple incarnation is not impossible. To the confined to the dialogue between Christianity contrary, everybody should live by the Spirit and and other religions. Today there is a lively to the extent that he or she does so, he or she dialogue between Jews and Hindus, between incarnates or embodies God’s presence in the Jews and Buddhists and, slowly growing, world. between Buddhists and Muslims. Further, there are the more difficult, but one day The response to the second question is given perhaps better developing dialogues between by the Buddhist Christian dual belongers. They Jews and Muslims, Hindus and Muslims and – have embarked on a life journey that tries to perhaps the most difficult one – between follow both masters and we need to listen to Buddhists and Hindus. Whatever is going on them how they integrate and how they relate the theologically in these dialogues will have Buddha and the Christ existentially. Paul Knitter implications also on Christianity’s dialogue has given his own personal answer in the title of with these religions. That is, an integrating his most recent book: Without Buddha I could movement is taking place that is, thank God, not be a Christian .50 beyond Christian control.

The first conclusion to which these 7. The wider horizon developments lead is that we need to take seriously what Wilfred Cantwell Smith once Let me conclude with a few remarks about the called a “World Theology”. 51 That is, we need to wider theological horizon, in which I perceive be serious about the prospect of an the sketched developments of Buddhist- interreligious theology. Christian theological Christian dialogue. I should like to highlight just thinking will have to take into account two aspects which lead to two consecutive increasingly other religious traditions as sources conclusions. of genuine theological insight. Or to put it differently, theology can no longer be done on First, the different dialogues of Christianity with the basis of just one segment of the religious other religions, in particular Christianity’s history of humankind but ideally on the basis of dialogue with Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and all of it. But this can be done only as part of an Buddhism need a stronger degree of ongoing interreligious colloquium, in which all integration. I see the danger that, for example, parties learn from each other.

34 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

The transformation of Christian self- “syncretism” blocks the bolder attempts of understanding in relation to Buddhism is just learning from other religions and allowing part of this wider process which will generate oneself to be transformed by what one learns. comparable transformations on all sides. This So what is so bad about “syncretism” that it is entails, and that is my second conclusion, that allegedly so important not to be syncretistic? I we need to rethink, or drastically revalue the feel that this whole issue urgently needs to be idea and fact of “syncretism”. The fear of revised.

1 On the comparatively less well known situation of Buddhist-Christian relations in mainland China see Ching Feng. A Journal on Christianity and Chinese Religion and Culture , vol. 4, no. 2 (2003) and vol. 5, no. 1 (2004). 2 See his famous essay “: Whither and Why?” (1959), reprinted in: W.C. Smith: Religious Diversity (ed. by W.G. Oxtoby), New York: Harper and Row 1976, 138-157, especially pp. 142ff. 3 See, for example, Stephen Batchelor: Buddhism Without Beliefs. A Contemporary Guide to Awakening , London: Bloomsbury 1997. 4 See, for example, Bernard Faure: Unmasking Buddhism , Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell 2009. The myth of a thoroughly peaceful and non-violent Buddhism has been effectively undermined by recent studies like Brian Victoria: , New York: Waterhill 1997, or Tessa Bartholomeusz: In Defense of Dharma. Just-war ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka , London – New York: RoutledgeCurzon 2002. See also: P. Schmidt-Leukel, “War and Peace in Buddhism”, in idem. (ed.): War and Peace in World Religions , London: SCM 2004, 33-56. 5 Cp. Rose Drew: An Exploration of Buddhist Christian Dual Belonging (forthcoming). 6 E.g. Ernest Valea: The Buddha and the Christ. Reciprocal Views , (no place) 2008, p. 188f: “… each is wrong when seen through the eyes of the other. Therefore my aim has been to show that they are different , that their teaching cannot be blended, and that one cannot belong to both traditions.” 7 Cp. Guy R. Welbon: The Buddhist Nirv āṅa and Its Western Interpreters , : University of Chicago Press 1968. For a detailed analysis see P. Schmidt-Leukel: “Den Löwen brüllen hören”. Zur Hermeneutik eines christlichen Verständnisses der buddhistischen Heilsbotschaft , Paderborn: Schöning 1992, 9-141. 8 For a summary and critical discussion of the traditional anti-theistic Buddhist Arguments see P. Schmidt- Leukel: “The Unbridgeable Gulf? Towards a Buddhist-Christian Theology of Creation”, in: idem. (ed.): Buddhism, Christianity and the Question of Creation. Karmic or Divine? , Ashgate: Aldershot 2006, 109-178, especially pp . 123-141. 9 As a good recent example of this is Keith Yandell, Harold Netland: Buddhism. A Christian Exploration and Appraisal , Downers Grove, Il.: InterVarsity Press 2009, 175-212. It is rather typical for this approach that the basically correct statements about Nirv āṇ a ( ibid. pp. 22-26) remain without any consequences regarding their discussion of the God-issue (pp. 161ff). 10 Cp. Paul Williams: The Unexpected Way. On Converting from Buddhism to Catholicism , Edinburgh: T&T Clark 2002. For a discussion between Paul Williams, José Cabezón and myself, see: John D’Arcy May: Converging Ways? Conversion and Belonging in Buddhism and Christianity , St. Ottilien: EOS 2007, pp. 67-154. 11 According to Paul Williams, Thomas Aquinas – whom he takes as a model – “would have respectfully sought to convert the Buddhists to Christianity”. P. Williams: “Aquinas Meets the Buddhists: Prolegomenon to an Authentically Thomas-ist Basis for Dialogue”, Modern Theology 20, 2004, 91-121, p. 92. 12 Cp. Dominus Iesus no. 22 on the “followers of other religions”: “… objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation”. 13 Cp. Mark Heim: The Depth of the Riches. A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends , Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2001, for example pp. 186ff, 210f, 218f. 14 That these experiences are indeed related to the same transcendent Reality is nothing that we could “know” in any sense of indubitable knowledge. We cannot even “know” with demonstrable certainty that there really is a transcendent reality. Our experiences of this reality could, after all, be illusory. Yet, they could also be genuine. And so it is a possible hypothesis to assume these different experiences are in fact related to the same ultimate reality, a hypothesis that is (among other indications) supported by the “fruit of the spirit” that accompanies those experiences or grows out of them. 15 John Hick: An Interpretation of Religion. Human Responses to the Transcendent , Basingstoke 1989.

35 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

16 Cp. P. Schmidt-Leukel: Transformation by Integration. How Inter-faith Encounter Changes Christianity , London: SCM Press 2009, pp. 113ff. 17 Cp. Lynn A. de Silva: “Buddhism and Christianity Relativised”, Dialogue N.S. 9, 1982, 43-72. 18 Cp. the entry of Dec. 4 th , 1968 in: The Other Side of the Mountain . The Journals of Thomas Merton. Vol. 7, ed. by Patrick Hart, San Francisco: Harper 1998, 323. 19 Cp. Dominus Iesus no. 6. 20 A related, though different approach, is usually taken by . It also affirms the need for mutual enrichment and even mutual transformation, yet this is not grounded in the idea of different experiences with the same transcendent reality but in different experiences with different – but interrelated – absolutes. Cf. David R. Griffin: “John Cobb’s Whiteheadian Complementary Pluralism”, in idem. (ed.): Deep Religious Pluralism , Louisville: WJK Press 2005, 39-66. An exception, however, is the approach taken by Paul Ingram. Despite his nearness to process theology, he nevertheless sees Buddhism and Christianity as differently related to the same transcendent reality. Cp. Paul Ingram: The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue , Eugene, OR: Cascade Books 2009, especially pp. 1-28. 21 Cp. Mūlamadhyamakak ārik ās 24:9-10. 22 Buddhism’s relations to other religions are discussed systematically and historically in P. Schmidt-Leukel (ed.): Buddhist Attitudes to Other Religions , St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag 2008. 23 For the attempt to link Mah āyāna Buddhist to French deconstructionist philosophy see: Joseph S. O’Leary: Religious Pluralism and Christian Truth , Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 1996. 24 This has been penetratingly argued by Hasan Askari, partly as a result of his experiences with inter-faith dialogue within the WCC. Cp. Hasan Askari: The Spiritual Quest. An Inter-Religious Dimension , Pudsey: Seven Mirrors 1991, pp. 120-139. 25 Early Christians were known as “followers of the ‘way’” (Acts 9:2; 19:9; 19:23; 22:4, etc). 26 On Buddhist-Christian dual belonging see: Rose Drew, An Exploration … (fn. 4); Harold Kasimow, John Keenan, Linda Klepinger Keenan (eds.): Beside Still Waters. Jews, Christians, and the Way of the Buddha , Boston: Wisdom Publications 2003; John D’Arcy May (ed.): Converging Ways? (fn. 9); Paul Knitter: Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian , Oxford: OneWorld 2009; and Buddhist-Christian Studies 23 (2003). 27 Cp. John P. Keenan: The Meaning of Christ. A Mah āyāna Theology , Maryknoll: Orbis 1989; idem . The Gospel of Mark. A Mah āyāna Reading , Maryknoll: Orbis 2005. 28 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation” (1989), no. 12. 29 Cp. Leo Lefebure: “Cardinal Ratzinger’s Comments on Buddhism”, in Buddhist-Christian Studies 18, 1998, 221-3. 30 See the special issue of Dialogue N.S. 22, 1995 on “Pope and Buddhism”, and B.L. Sherwin, H. Kasimow (eds.): John Paul II and Interreligious Dialogue , Maryknoll: Orbis 1999. 31 Mark Heim: Is Christ the Only Way? Christian Faith in a Pluralistic World , Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press 1985, p. 146. 32 Mark Heim: Salvations. Truth and Difference in Religion , Maryknoll: Orbis 1995, p. 163. 33 Mark Heim: The Depth of the Riches , pp. 187f, 210. 34 Cp. Mark Heim: Salvations , p. 129: “A More Pluralistic Hypothesis”. 35 Cp. Lynn A. de Silva, “Buddhism and Christianity Relativised”, Dialogue N.S . 9 (1982), 43-72. 36 Aloysius Pieris: Love Meets Wisdom. A Christian Experience of Buddhism , Maryknoll: Orbis 1988, p. 111. 37 Cp. IX (p. 325). 38 Catherine Cornille: The im-Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue , New York: Crossroad Publishing 2008. 39 Ibid. p. 10. 40 Ibid. p. 178. 41 Cp. Yandell, Netland: Buddhism. A Christian Exploration and Appraisal , pp. 203-211. 42 A.N. Whitehead: Religion in the Making. Lowell Lectures 1926, New York: Fordham University Press 1996, p. 56. 43 Rita Gross, Terry Muck (eds.): Buddhists Talk about Jesus, Christians Talk about the Buddha , New York – London: Continuum 2000. First published in Buddhist-Christian Studies 19 (1999). 44 P. Schmidt-Leukel (ed.): Buddhist Perceptions of Jesus , St. Ottilien: EOS 2001; “Christian Perceptions of the Buddha”, in: Swedish Missiological Themes 90/1 (2002). 45 Cp. A ṅguttaranik āya 4.36.

36 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Perry Schmidt-Leukel Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

46 Cp. A guttaranik ya 3.54-6; Sa yuttanik ya 22.87; 92. 47 ṅ ā ṃ ā Cp. D īghanik āya 27.9. 48 “Jesus der Christus und Gautama der Buddha sind ‘Geschenke’ aus der Dimension des Unaussprechlichen, die zu Sprache geworden sind.” M. von Brück, W. Lai: Buddhismus und Christentum. Geschichte, Konfrontation, Dialog, München : C.H. Beck Verlag 1997, p. 314. 49 See also my dialogue with on the relation between the Buddha and the Christ in: P. Schmidt-Leukel (ed.): Buddhism and Christianity in Dialogue , London: SCM 2005, pp. 149-211. 50 P. Knitter: Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian , Oxford: Oneworld 2009. 51 W.C. Smith: Towards a World Theology. Faith and the Comparative , Basingstoke: Macmillan 1981; Maryknoll: Orbis 1989.

Perry Schmidt-Leukel is Professor of and Intercultural Theology at the University of Münster/Germany. After studying Theology and in Munich, he taught at the Universities of Munich, Innsbruck and Salzburg. From 2000-2009 he was Professor of Religious Studies and Systematic Theology at the University of Glasgow. His main interest is in the fields of inter-faith relations, Buddhist-Christian dialogue, pluralist theologies of religions and – most recently – inter-faith theology. He published more than 20 books in different languages. Among his more recent publications are: Understanding Buddhism , Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press 2006; (ed.) Buddhist Attitudes to Other Religions , St. Ottilien: EOS Publisher 2008; Transformation by Integration. How Inter-faith Encounter Changes Christianity , London: SCM Press 2009.

37 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Christine Lienemann-Perrin Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Response to Perry Schmidt-Leukel’s paper The Transformation of Christian Self-Understanding in Relation to Buddhism

Christine Lienemann-Perrin

I am very much impressed by the profound 1.2 Re-Conceptualisation knowledge of Buddhist thought which Perry has The paper re-conceptualises Christian faith in presented to us. His knowledge is evidently the context of Buddhism to achieve a wider and based on experiences and insights gained in a deeper understanding of the Christian tradition. long-standing encounter with Buddhists. I am The famous statement by Paul Knitter: “Without saying this as a person with little expertise of Buddha I could not be a Christian” reminds us Buddhism and with hardly any personal of the experience that in knowing two religions experience of the Buddhist way of life. What can we get a wider understanding of our own then be my task in responding to his religion. Bilateral inter-religious encounters do presentation? I will make some comments at not endangeri, but enrich one’s own faith. It can two levels: (1) A short appraisal of the paper have a win-win effect on both sides. within the confines of the Christian-Buddhist relationship; (2) Then I will move to my own 1.3 Complementarity background: the former World Council of Several times the paper identifies Churches reference group and its paper on complementarities between Buddhism and Religious Pluralism and Christian Self- Christianity. The realm of ethics is a good Understanding . I try to link some aspects of example for that. Perry refers to the these two papers. complementarity of detachment and loving involvement 1 He also mentions two concepts of transcendence expressing complementary 1. Christian-Buddhist Relations experiences of what he calls “the same transcendent reality”. Further on he pleads for a Perry’s paper has a concrete and specific focus: mutual recognition of two salvific paths . The transformation of Christian self- understanding in relation to Buddhism. I will 1.4 Accountability briefly recall six aims achieved in the paper: Accountability is a way of understanding (cf. 1 Peter 3, 15: “Always be 1.1 Correspondence prepared to make a defence to any one who The paper discloses and identifies some calls you to account for the hope that is in you”). correspondences or analogies between the In this sense, Perry tries to account for the Christian and the Buddhist traditions. Perry Christian hope in a conversation face to face mentions e.g. concepts of transcendence found with Buddhists. He therefore uses language in both religions in spite of their different forms. and images comprehensible to them. This is a Asserting this, it is no longer possible to convincing approach to communicate one’s postulate an antagonism between Buddhism own faith to religious ‘Others’ so that mutual and Christianity. Another example of such a learning and transformation can take place (p. correspondence is implemented by the so- 13 ). called dual belongers: they can perceive both Buddha and Christ as mediators of the 1.5 Difference transcendent. This is, of course, a controversial Another aim of the paper is achieved in the statement among other partners in interfaith sense that it identifies differences between dialogue. Christian and Buddhist self-understandings.

38 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Christine Lienemann-Perrin Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Perry emphasizes that differences do not have 2.1 Individual and common Christian self- to be sacrificed or hidden for the sake of living understanding Christian faith in a Buddhist context. In his In his paper, Perry focuses on individual faith. comments on the two different ways of salvation He rightfully does justice to the individuality and he tries to hold difference and equality together uniqueness of each human being’s personal and to avoid the denigration of “the Other”. On faith. He suggests “letting go all sorts of what conditions is it possible to implement a religious labelling and seeing each one of us as hermeneutics of difference in an interfaith just the unique and unmistakable individual that relationship? Reactions of suspicion on the side each of us is, without thinking of ourselves or of people of other faiths can only be avoided in our neighbours in such stereotypes as the an atmosphere of mutual trust and deep Christian, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Muslim friendship. etc.”. While not ignoring the uniqueness of the personal faith of each individual, the reference 1.6 Questions group will have to focus more on the self- Provided there is a friendly and trustful understanding of Christian communities. atmosphere, it is even possible to ask critical Looking at the task of the reference group it has questions to the religious ‘Other’ – as Perry is to shift from “my” faith to “our” common faith. doing. He asks: “Can Buddhists learn from The question of ‘our’ identity as a community of Christians in relation to features of Christian faith will be an indispensable element of our spirituality like forgiveness and hope?” endeavour. Therefore we cannot avoid to struggle with the ecclesiological implications of Conclusion: Christian self-understanding. What is needed is To my mind, the six mentioned aims are basic a re-thinking of the notae ecclesiae and an virtues of every sincere interfaith encounter. exploration of new shapes of the Church which Perry’s paper reflects this kind of relationship at are doing justice to the many different contexts its best. What is striking to me is that according of the world. At the same time the to Perry’s presentation all these aims are best contextualized churches should remain reached by the so-called Buddhist-Christian identifiable as manifestations of the one Church dual-belongers .2 The dual-identity-approach is of Jesus Christ. explicitly or implicitly qualified as the most convincing way of being accountable as a 2.2 Which Buddhism? Which Christianities? Christian to Buddhist partners in dialogue. I Perry’s differentiation of various Buddhisms have two questions: Should we in our meeting asks for an equivalent differentiation on the focus basically on dual-belongers? Would this Christian side: Which Christianity are we not mean that we have to exclude other speaking about? What we should have in mind, relationships between both religions and people at best, is World Christianity including all its of both faith communities? manifold facets. Since this will not be a realistic approach, we have to carefully select some When I am now shifting to my comments on the representative examples of Christianities in second level, it is my intention to relate at least different contexts. 4 We cannot avoid developing some aspects of Perry’s paper to the text which certain types of Christianities living under has been published by the former reference specific conditions. At the same time we must group 3, and to take a glance at our future task be aware that such types are constructs and on behalf of the World Council of Churches generalisations which do not reflect exactly the (WCC ). reality of existing churches.

2.3 Relationship between bilateral and 2. The Self-Understanding of World multilateral religious encounters Christianity in a Religiously Plural World How close should Christianity come to another

39 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Christine Lienemann-Perrin Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 religion? Perry’s explications and experiences in their self-understanding – and also that give evidence that Christian individuals who guests are enriched by learning from their more than anyone else try to be accountable to hosts. Furthermore, guests are adapting to a people of other faiths can indeed go very far in certain degree to the rules of the hosts while the context of a bilateral inter-religious these, on their part, observe certain rules of encounter. May and can indeed Christian hospitality. Consider that people of the same communities, churches or even World faith are sometimes in the situation of being Christianity do the same? In his last chapter hosts, sometimes they are guests in another Perry refers to the limits of such an endeavour. ‘religious house’. They have to learn both roles Quite often a specific interfaith dialogue is – as Jesus did when he sometimes welcomed working well as long as it is confined to two people of other faiths, sometimes accepted the partners. To express it in my own words: hospitality of them. In short: A hermeneutics of interfaith dialogue can reach some consistency hospitality tries to combine the recognition of only as long as it takes place “behind the back” difference with friendship and togetherness. of other religions. As soon as other faiths join and form a round table, the consistency 2.5 Building a disappears. Therefore Perry pleads for the In my home city, Berne in , a house search of “a Christology that understands of religions will soon be erected. It will host incarnation in a way that does justice equally Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Alevites and well to what we learn from Jews and Muslims Christians. 6 All of them – including the as to what we learn from Buddhists and Christians who are members of the Ethiopian- Hindus” . Orthodox Tewahedo Church – share a migrant background and represent small religious, 2.4 Hermeneutics of hospitality ethnic and linguistic minorities in Switzerland. I doubt that this ambitious approach will ever Every religious community will occupy its own work as he hopes. The vision behind it is to part within the house and furnish it according to minimise as far as possible the aspects of its own religious rules. In the centre of the Christian self-understanding which are house, a large hall will provide space for inter- offensive to either one or several, if not all other religious and inter-cultural encounters between faiths. In regard to this point I would like to all religious families residing in the house of comment on the “hermeneutics of hospitality” religions. Because every religious community as an approach to deal with the same problem lives next door to another community, it is in a far more modest way. The former study unavoidable to recognise and respect the group on Religious Plurality and Christian Self- different self-understandings of every single Understanding opted for the metaphors of group. A code of conduct for all house members hospitality, hosts and guests. Through these has to be signed and respected for the peaceful metaphors it has taken into account that in inter- coexistence of the house. At the same time, the religious encounters a remarkable communities are expected to take part in a distinctiveness remains between people of culture of mutual learning. They are invited to different faiths – a distinctiveness which, to my participate in the religious life of others as far as mind, is legitimate and has to be respected. their own identity allows it. This very practical People of a specific faith can and should offer experience and fascinating common journey in hospitality to people of other faiths without my home city is for me a test case on a local expecting them to become a member of the level of what we are looking for at a global level: house (e.g. without trying to “convert” them). In re-framing Christian self-understanding in a general, guests are leaving the guest house religiously plural world. again after a while as what they were before: “religious others” .5 This does not preclude that 5.6 guests are enriching the members of the house After having glanced at the purposes of the

40 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Christine Lienemann-Perrin Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 former reference group let me come back again among people of other faiths somewhere in Asia to one of the main insights of Perry’s paper. He Minor. Their self-understanding is affected not mentions several times that in dialogue with only by the fact that “the world” does not Buddhist thinking apophatic theology can be acknowledge them as children of God. Far more rediscovered in the Christian tradition. We read: they are irritated because a part of the “Christians learned from Buddhists to modify a congregation has left and went its own way due too strongly theistic understanding of God and to different theological opinions. But John tries rediscovered the importance of the apophatic to strengthen the weakened self-understanding tradition.” It seems to me that apophatic of the remaining minority lost in isolation by consciousness could – and in fact can – be confirming that they really are children of God: strengthened as a common ground for “Beloved, we are God’s children.” But then, he Buddhists and Christians when they immediately continues with an apophatic stance: communicate on the ‘ineffability of ultimate “it does not yet appear what we shall be.” A reality’. Apophatic consciousness resonates in a reservation is always inherent in the Christian passage of the first letter of John (1John 3. 1-3): self-understanding. It preserves Christians from 1 See what love the Father has given us, that doctrinal certainties about themselves and about we should be called children of God; and so we God until the end of times. Their final identity will are. The reason why the world does not know be disclosed to them only when they will see us is that it did not know him. God “as he is”. Knowledge of God and self- 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does knowledge are interrelated. But God’s children not yet appear what we shall be, but we know have to know that full knowledge of God and full that when it appears we shall be like him, for we self-knowledge are reserved to a reality beyond shall see him as he is. time and space. Nevertheless, the phrase: “it 3 And every one who thus hopes in him purifies does not yet appear what we shall be” opens a himself as he is pure. space for widening our religious horizons, for re- evaluating our limited theological insights, for The letter containing that passage is addressed re-formulating our faith in view of both, the to a Christian congregation amidst a crisis of interfaith encounters and the heart of Christian identity. It exists as a small religious minority faith.

1 That insight has been elaborated in Aloysius Pieris’ seminal book Love Meets Wisdom . A Christian Experience of Buddhism , Maryknoll: Orbis , 1989 , 2 They are also labelled as religious double identities (p. 9); dual religious identities (p. 14): Buddhist Christian dual belongers (p. 16 ). 3 Preparatory paper No 13: “Religious Plurality and Christian Self-Understanding, in: Come , heal and reconcile! ” Report of the WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, Athens: Greece, May 2005, ed. by Jacques Matthey, pp. 113-124. 4 Differences have to be addressed at several levels: a) differences of contexts: politics, law, religious neighbours, cultures, society: b) difference of behaviour towards society; c) difference of concepts of God, salvation, Christ; d) difference of size: minority, majority; e) denominational differences. 5 During the consultation in Colombo, Perry was right to mention that in certain cases guests may leave hosts as people who have become friends of the house and may come back again and again. This is certainly true for ‘dual belongers’. 6 Jews and Baha’i, while not aspiring for a site in the house of religions, are also involved in the project.

Christine Lienemann-Perrin is Emerita Professor for Ecumenical and Mission Theology at the University of Basel, Switzerland.

41 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Leopold Ratnasekera Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Seeking self-understanding as Christians in a Buddhist context

Rev. Dr Leopold Ratnasekera OMI, S.T.L., Ph.D., Th.D.

I – HISTORICAL NOTE commitment of the State to give Buddhism pride of place (art. 2). It has also been used often as This is written in the context of Sri Lanka , which an ideological tool in national politics which is considered as the impeccable seat of made other minority religious groups a bit Therav āda Buddhism , holding infallibly to the concerned about their position. Buddhist doctrine of the Elders who claim to have nationalism has once again risen in a subtle preserved without tinge of change what the manner in the context of the ethnic conflict that Buddha himself taught. In fact, Sri Lanka prides even led to full-scale war in recent times. 1 The herself as the country in which the translation question therefore can legitimately be asked as into Sinhala of the Buddhist Canon (Tripitaka) to how a Christian self-understanding can be was done. It was first brought to Sri Lanka by formulated in such a Buddhist context? Arahant Théra in the 3rd century BCE and subsequently written down in ola leaf books II – CONCEPTUAL APPROACH in the 1st century BCE. at the Aluvih āra temple in M ātalé, fourteen miles away from the hill 1. The Understanding of “Self ” capital of Kandy. Anatt ā or Non-self is a concept that is at the This translation came up in the Buddha core of Buddhist interpretation of human Jayanthi series as a result of a resolution taken existence. It is intimately linked to two other at the sixth Council held in Burma during the concepts: anicc ā () and dukk ā th Buddha Jayanthi (2500 anniversary) (suffering) which thus form the Ti-Lakkh ānas, celebrations in 1956. It will be remembered too or the three-fold characteristics of existence that in 5 CE, Buddhagh ōsa the famous Indian (bh āve ). Anatt ā is ego-lessness and the scholar monk and commentator translated wholesale denial of the “I” and whatever is me, some fourteen very early commentaries of the mine etc. the individual ( puggala ) being an Tripitaka written in Sinhala into P āli. He came to accidental aggregate of five elements called the Sri Lanka for this specific work, since early P āli “pancakkhandas ” namely: matter, sensations, commentaries were lost in India. perceptions, mental formations and viññ āna (consciousness). There is hence no permanent Buddhism is the major religion in Sri Lanka enduring substance called self in any individual. since 3 rd century BCE ever since King Death is the dissolution of the individual into Dēvānampiyatissa and his kingdom was these five elements. Something of viññana converted to this religion. Over the years it has passes through to a new birth, thus causing withstood all onslaughts from within and without rebirth. against its religious practice and institutions. Now and again there have been resurgences in Liberation precisely is coming to the awareness face of threats and challenges. The most of ego-lessness and trying one’s best to destroy modern resurgence followed political this radical illusion of the ‘ego’ which in fact is independence from the British colonial rule also the root cause of karmic re-birth. since 1948 and with the new spirit surging from Attachment to whatever smacks of the ego the Jayanthi (Jubilee) celebrations in 1956. leads to sorrow and it is plain and simple Embedded in the 1972 constitution is the ignorance ( avijja ) that has to be overcome with

42 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Leopold Ratnasekera Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 the pursuit of wisdom through insight into the Nephesh : It simply means “man” or even way things are: the world of the phenomena or animal. At death nephesh goes out. the phenomenal world which is the most ir-real. Psyché: nephesh is similar to this New Testament idea of psyché. Psyché always The pañcha-s īla which consists of not stealing, exists in the body. It means life, vitality, not lying, not giving into sexual misconduct, not aliveness (Rom 11:3; 16:4). This is also the seat taking intoxicating drinks and not injuring any of feeling, thought and will. In the Book of Acts, living thing is an ordinary man’s basic means of it is used in reference to persons, but it is getting over this attachment ( tanh ā) to the ego person as a whole and not an entity within the and gaining victory over illusions and thereby in person. The interesting revelation is that psyché some way tide over the cycle of sams āric is not immortal except when sanctified by existence or continuous birth. The most perfect “Pneûma” , that is as a whole person (Heb. way of liberation and moral perfection which the 10:39; James 1:21; 1 Pet. 1:9) Tripitaka cites in many of its suttas is the Psyché-Sarx (-body). This psycho-somatic “Attañgika Magga”, the Eight-fold path which is reality has a close resemblance to Nāma- presented as the fourth noble truth of Buddhist Rpa , which is the basic anthropological teaching, the path of conquering suffering and analysis of the individual in . its roots through disciplining of senses, of the Hence, there is no implication at all here of an mind and finally acquiring the necessary immortal soul. This is the biblical combination wisdom ( paññ ā). that comes closest to the anatt ā idea linked to Nāma-Rpa identification of the individual. Just 2. A Christian Approximation as man is a unity of nāma-rpa in Buddhism, so in the , man is a unity of psyché-sarx . a) Is there anything in Christian terminology that Further, just as in Buddhism there is no soul would come close to this concept that denies entity within the nāma-rpa complex, so does the egoistically-bent self which Christianity too the Bible leave no room for a notion of an would deny as impermanent and wrong and immortal soul within the psyché-sarx unity of hence to be jettisoned through some spiritual man. A Christian author Lynn de Silva discipline? In which case, it is this egoistic self concludes saying: “Thus we could, in a sense, that has to be crucified so that the real self speak of a biblical doctrine of anatt ā. We could which is the “Image of God” be built up? 2 God’s put the matter thus: Psychosomatic image in man could never contain a selfish and creatureliness is anatt ā (i.e. soulless and ego-filled self. The new self renewed in the substanceless).” 3 power of the Holy Spirit displaces this wrong Pneûma: (Spirit). This New Testament term is and sinful self in order to recreate and restore one that refers to the individual man when used the lost image of God and thus configure us to descriptively as a concept of the authentic self. Christ. It also has connections with the Divine Spirit, the ground of being and the power that creates b) By turning to the Old and New Testament community and posits the self. Lynn de Silva literature, we find some concepts and ideas explains this in detail when he establishes that which might help us solve this riddle. In the Old Spirit as constitutive of personality: Testament there is:- Spirit is the power of life that constitutes personality. Throughout the Bible it is Ruach : man as creature is “ anatt ā”. But, in maintained that God is the source of life, and as relationship to God, he is image and likeness of religious thought developed “Spirit” as the God. The nature of this relationship is because breath of God came to be associated with the of the “Ruach” of which is God-given. life created by God, particularly with human life. Man in himself therefore is not immortal, but is “Spirit” as breath carries with it the idea of God’s truly destined to immortality. dynamic creative activity manifest particularly in

43 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Leopold Ratnasekera Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 persons. However, Spirit as the power of life is man is dialogic. “In the beginning is relation”. 7 not identical with any substratum or separate Heidegger too enlightens us on this dimension entity within man, neither is it anything added to of personality discovered communally in shared the organic structure which is animated by it. existence: “All existence is co-existence”. 8 So, Spirit is rather the power of animation itself. It the “I” is co-efficient with the “Thou” and to be is does not create a ‘soul’ in the individual; it is not to be related . This kind of reasoning is not a part added to the organic system; it cannot be possible in Buddhism since it closes in on the located in the individual. Spirit is the dimension single individual who has to battle out the in which personality actualizes itself, not as a liberation of its own individual self. separate entity, but as an identity within a unity. This personal aspect can never be understood 4. The Popular Perceptions apart from the relationship in which the self exists. 4 All that has been said above is highly philosophical , analytical and understandable to 3. Anatt ā-Pneûma Combination the scholarly mind. But, what does an ordinary lay Buddhist or the majority of ordinary temple- Anatt ā-Pneûma combination takes us beyond going devotees understand about themselves: the Psyché-sarx, enabling us to understand their individual identity, their pertaining to a what is really permanent of the person in an religious community and their eventual destiny individual, but not alienating person from its regarding the future? collective and social dimension – that of community of persons. This is going beyond In general, a devoted Buddhist would compel Buddhism where we are not lost in the himself to practice the pañcha-s īla and would impermanence of the individual only. It is clear go to places of worship to listen to the that the community aspect is totally absent in propound the doctrine and seek for inner peace Buddhist anthropology though the pañcha-s īla and tranquillity. By offering poojas to the touched on social virtues and the Dhamma has Buddha statue and the B ō tree etc . they would a clear teaching on virtues that instil the hope to gain and be reminded of the discipline and ethics of social relations and impermanence of existence as when offering a behaviour as taught in the Sigalov āda sutta . In tray of flowers before the statue or a relic of the Christianity, it is the spirit that can be seen as Lord Buddha 9. The deeper meaning of such the category of self-transcendence. A person in gesture is not the worship of the Buddha, since that case reaches beyond himself to the other this is not possible in Buddhism, but a type of with whom he is related and is thus reaching out veneration or profound respect to a teacher who to transcend himself. 5 The self as spirit unravelled a path of moral perfection and transcends not only his body, not only his mind, personal liberation from the universal existential but his very self, that is, the differentiated self. In feature of suffering in all its forms. They would transcending oneself, one ceases to be an ego- also perform acts of compassion and generosity entity. But self-hood is always being fulfilled by and the veneration of the Sangha (order of being transcended. It is through this monks) taking it as a means of earning merit for transcending that the ego is negated and the a better life in the future. In addition, in the social authentic self is affirmed. Lynn’s basic consciousness there is the need of working conviction is that it is only in a personal- towards a violence-free world of compassion communal structure that the identity of the self and justice to all based on ahims ā (non- is to be found and not in isolation. 6 violence). Those in authority are expected to rule in justice and righteousness with Authentic being is found only in relationship and compassion towards all, especially those who not in isolation. This living relationship makes of are the poorest and the most helpless. 10 In the man an authentic being. As Martin Buber puts it, public proclamation of the Dhamma, the

44 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Leopold Ratnasekera Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 spiritual element of detachment from greed has to be conquered. In Christian sense, with (tanh ā) in all its forms is very much stressed. the renunciation of this wrong self along with The need to look for mental and inner peace is the manifestations of its various types of very much encouraged. The education of the selfishness and idolatrous worship of self 12 , young in the ways of good Buddhist discipline is emerges the true redeemed self, a rediscovery being pursued in the schools and temple of the image and likeness of God, stained and instructions. lost by sin. This true inner self living in the spirit and putting on the new spirit of Christ is really III – CHRISTIAN SELF-UNDERSTANDING a spirit-filled (a pneûma charged) personality AND ITS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS or an individual. This is explained in St. John’s Gospel in terms of the indwelling of the Holy 1. The general experience of religiousness . Spirit. This unity and communion puts us in Christians must accept that their religious touch with God, the supreme self-less spirit. beliefs are just one among many. One of the For, God is spirit: pneûma . It is this renewed characteristics of Buddhist religiosity is the person that is immortal and will be destined to recognition of impermanence ( anicc ā) and the union with God for all eternity. That which is 11 importance of fighting greed ( tanh ā) in every designated by the biblical concepts such as form. Buddhism insists on simplicity of life and psyche, nephesh, s ārx and sōma have nothing even a distinctly outward expression of to do with this spirit-filled “pneumatic” reality of religiousness. the person. They in fact have been transcended and superseded. 2. Today’s Christian mission is engaged in the triple dialogue with people of other faiths, 4. There is the risk in many a religiously cultures and the poor. This is Asia’s path to oriented culture of the double danger of evangelization, the spreading of the Gospel politicisation of religion 13 and the infection of values and building up God’s kingdom based structures with values contrary to religious on those values. Both Buddhists and values , as for example unjust structures and Christians concur on the categorical need to those infected with different forms of collective stress transcendence and with it all greed such as the sphere of business transcendental values that go beyond the enterprise and means of livelihood. Christianity mere ephemeral, empirical, material and condemns them as structural forms of sin or socio-cultural dimensions of human existence. social sins while Buddhism would condemn This vision and life-perspective has to be them as evil forms of livelihood while teaching globalized and socialized to the maximum the imperative of “right livelihood” ( samma- possible. Even in Sri Lanka with its in-roads of aj īva of the 8-fold path of moral perfection) as the secular spirit and materialistic outlook, a found in the fourth Noble Truth. joint Buddhist-Christian effort has to be launched in defence of and fostering of the Christians and Buddhists are very much united spirit of transcendence. Buddhist and Christian in this social ethic and can in dialogue , doctrines, whether Nibb āna-oriented or God- cooperate and collaborate in weeding out oriented , are both conducive to this these evils and bring the much enacted grand undertaking. Christian self-understanding is of their churches and temples in line to therefore one of solidarity and communion with spill over to the social engagement for Buddhist basic spirituality and social culture of achieving a better and just society. 14 We need transcendence and other-worldliness. a better conscious socially and Christianity in a world in which social 3. Whatever may be understood to be Anatt ā, changes happen rapidly in many ways. one point is clear: wrong self that seeks its Deterrents too are needed to tide over this own and is infested with selfishness and greed challenge.

45 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Leopold Ratnasekera Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

5. A problem that has become acutely between a religious culture (Buddhist) and wearisome is how to carry on evangelism in a Christian faith. situation that demands transmission of the Gospel through dialogue. Do dialogue and Authentic and original Buddhism is not meant proclamation go together? 15 Can they be to be a religion. It is a philosophy of life: a path reconciled at all? Can they be identified as of moral perfection and interior enlightenment some try to do today in today’s theology and arising from an illumination from within. The missiology? The important way out is through veneration of the Buddha itself is only a contextualization and inductive approach in this symbolic mark of respect and is neither matter. This requires great and careful adoration nor worship. The Buddha is the discernment of the way of the Lord to enable supreme teacher 20 of the noble truths about the Word of God to break loose. Certainly, as a sorrow and its extinction which he discovered church fully in love and communion with Christ and communicated to his followers. He is not it knows very well that Christ in person is the even an intercessor who can mediate salvation Kingdom and apart from him there is no such to a Buddhist. According to the classic kingdom. We cannot be satisfied in our radical pedagogy of the K l ma Sutta 21 of the 16 ā ā faith with just discovering the rays of light or Anguttara Nik āya, it is only through personal seeds of the Word 17 in all religions and cultures, experience that one discovers what is true and with these serving as evangelical false as well as what is morally right and evil. preparations 18 . The question is what do we do The radical thesis of Buddhism – its clear with these so-called rays and seeds? We are standpoint – is that one is a to oneself: here faced with the task of perfecting them. Attahi attano N ātho ( 160).

IV. CONCLUSION A Christian self-understanding in a Buddhist context would lead us to appreciate two things: Our faith and awareness as Christians are insistence on transcendence through right always challenged by the socio-religious and knowledge and the demanding imperative to cultural context in which given Christian eradicating greed which is the root cause of all communities live and work. Positive points well evil: above all, the evil of the illusion of a false- understood and rightly integrated into self, a selfish self. Christianity is in solidarity with theological education can be of immense help Buddhism in both these decisive areas of in contextualizing the practice of our faith and ultimate concerns. Solidarity in dialogue and a inculturating 19 our faith itself. Both these shared spirituality in depth will help us to processes help in the indigenization of appreciate these precious common ideals. We Christianity. It is also good to educate our own can share and also work together with these , in faithful in this multi-dimensional catechesm that order to foster a true religious spirit that will is demanded by the pluralism and multi- insist on an other-worldly reality ( Nibb āna ) as culturalism so typical a characteristic of our expressed in classical text “Udana 80-81” 22 (the time. Evangelization has to be an inter-active unborn, unoriginated reality) and building up a process and movement between culture and social spirituality of compassion ( karun ā), faith, and in the context of this reflection loving-kindness ( mett ā) and wisdom ( paññ ā).

1 The war was interpreted by many as a form of terrorism waged for political freedom of the minority Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka. It was understood as a liberation armed struggle for freedom and dignity by those who initiated it (LTTE). The government however launched humanitarian operations of a military nature against this terrorism, finally subduing it militarily. 2 Romans 7:24; 8:12-14; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 4:22 etc. .

46 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Leopold Ratnasekera Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

3 Lynn de Silva, The Problem of the Self in Buddhism and Christianity , Colombo, 1975, p . 80. 4 Op. Cit, p . 87 5 Idem, p . 89 6 Idem, p . 90 7 Martin Buber, I and Thou (English Translation), T & T Clark, 1937, p . 18 8 Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (English Translation), Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1962, p . 117 9 In such religious gestures a devotee reminds himself of the reality of the Buddha’s anicc ā (impermanence) doctrine, recalling that in the same way as this fresh flower fades, so will I fade away. 10 Cfr. The Dasa-R ja Dhamma or the ten virtues which a wise ruler or a king is called upon to practise. 11 ā Tanh ā (greed) as we know concur with hatred ( dōsa ) and ignorance ( avijj ā) as the triple root of evil that can poison the three doors of moral action in Buddhism, namely the body, mind and speech. 12 Cf. St Paul’s letter to Romans which defines immorality as idol worship and the fate that befalls those who give themselves to immoral ways of living. The natural repercussions of ill effects are sure to follow such behaviour. 13 François Houtart , Religions and ideology in Sri Lanka , Colombo, Hansa, 1974 14 Cf . Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church , Vatican City, 2004 15 Cf . Proclamation and Dialogue , Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and the Congregation for Evangelization of Peoples, Rome, 1971, where these terms are clarified and their connection is explained. 16 A term introduced by Justin the Martyr (103-165 CE), a second century Christian apologist. 17 A theological term pioneered by Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c. 211 CE), one of the second century theologians and a president of the Catechetical school of Alexandria. 18 Eusebius of Caesarea (263-339 CE), historian and exegete. 19 is a two-way process: it involves both adapting ourselves to a given culture and transforming that very culture as well in the light of the Gospel values. 20 Cfr. Dhammapada 276 21 Buddha’s Charter of Free Inquiry (PTS: A.I.188) 22 Cfr. through the Ages ed. et al., Harper & Row, NY, 1964, p 95.

Rev. Dr. Leopold Ratnasekera OMI, S.T.L., Ph.D., Th.D., is the Assistant Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Sri Lanka. He is the Former Professor of Theology at the National Seminary, Ampitiya, Sri Lanka and Former Professor of Asian Religions of the Institute of Consecrated Life in Asia (ICLA), Manila. He is a participant in Theological Consultations, FABC and Professor of Theology, Aquinas University College, Colombo, Sri Lanka .

47 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Keerthisiri Fernando Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Minority Christian Identity in the Context of Majority Buddhist Identity in Sri Lanka

Keerthisiri Fernando

Introduction, Scope of Study and Method (69%) and Christianity is one of the minority religions (7.6%) of the people of this land. In this short paper I intend to examine the Although almost all the native Buddhists in Sri identity issues of the Christian minority in the Lanka are Sinhala people the reverse is not the surroundings of the Buddhist majority in Sri case. Just over half out of the 7.6% Christian Lanka. This is done by considering sociological minority are Sinhala. Slightly under half are of realities connected to Buddhist and Christian Tamil ethnic origin. 1 identity with theological inputs that have been necessarily associated with the identities of The continuous existence of the present day these world religions. Hence this paper Christian community in Sri Lanka can be traced highlights theological issues in so far as they to the arrival of the Portuguese at the beginning are empirically intertwined with the identity of the 16th century. This was followed by the concerns of the people of these two scripture- Dutch in 1658 CE and then the British in the based religions in Sri Lanka. year 1796 CE. The Portuguese introduced Roman Catholicism while the Dutch Although this study mainly discusses the issue established the Dutch Reformed Church, and of Christians in the context of Sinhala under the British colonial rule many so-called Buddhism, to enhance the scope of this Protestant denominations such as Methodist research other realities such as the Tamil ethnic and Baptist were initiated along with the religion presence are taken into consideration of the colony called the Anglican denomination. appropriately. Through scrutiny an effort is made to investigate the possibilities of Although all these colonial powers protected contributing to ethno-religious harmony in Sri and used their brands of Christian Lanka by understanding the identity of denominations for their own benefit to run the Christians in the bosom of Buddhism. Yet it is colony, there are some unique features which not the intention of this paper to have an need to be recognized. The Portuguese were extensive analysis of the Buddhist and Christian involved in mass conversion and used many communities and post-war situation in Sri visual aids and symbols in proclaiming Roman Lanka. Catholicism. Their priests were celibates and did not depend on a salary from the colonial This brief research is done by locating the Sri government. They led a simple life and became Lankan context in the global realities and involved with the common people in their research appropriately. The substance of this everyday activities. The Dutch introduced the paper is obtained from written literature and the Dutch Reformed Church by prohibiting all the living experience of the writer of this research. other religions including Roman Catholicism. Other necessary information and views have They were particularly against Roman been accessed from the writer’s previous Catholicism as the Dutch belonged to the research in Sri Lanka and the UK. reformed camp who were against the Roman Catholics whose head was the Bishop of Rome A very brief introduction to the social history (the Pope). Under these circumstances the of the Christian community in Sri Lanka Dutch persecuted the Roman Catholics, which In Sri Lanka Buddhism is the majority religion created pandemonium among the Roman

48 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Keerthisiri Fernando Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Catholics in Sri Lanka. The British allowed the Wide Geographical dispersion flow of many denominations and gave religious The religion must have demonstrated an ability freedom to all religions, although special to find followers amongst a variety of nations or privileges were granted to the Anglican ethnic groups. Thus even if a religion satisfies Church. 2 the first two requirements but has not been able to spread beyond its region of origin, it may not In 1948, after political independence, Christians qualify to be a universal religion. Thus lost the many privileged positions that they is not generally regarded as a universal religion enjoyed under the colonial regime. Under these although its principles are universal in scope circumstances some Christian denominations and it is non-exclusive. initiated processes such as indigenisation and inculturation to face the challenges of the Non-Exclusiveness of Language postcolonial era. Generally until the mid 1970s The practices of the religion which require the foreign contacts of the Christians were very verbal communication should be capable of much restricted. After that time, with the being done in any language. The authoritative introduction of the market economy in the version of its basic texts may be maintained in context of so-called globalisation, once again the original language in which the original Christians were able to have a close expositions were given, but translations of these connection with their foreign counterparts. In should be valid, provided that they preserve the this background many new Christian sense of the original texts. denominations have been introduced to Sri Lanka. Independence of Specific Cultural Practices The practices of the religion should be free from The Problem the cultural practices of a particular group in The main problem unearthed by this research such matters as food, dress, seating, etc.. Each paper is identified as the tension between one of these criteria raise problems but they universality and particularity of two major have to be satisfied to a significant extent if the religions existing in an island nation called Sri religion is to be deemed a universal one. 3 Lanka at the southern tip of India. To Although in Sri Lanka these two religions, understand this problem the following Christianity and Buddhism, basically endeavour explanation presented by Gunasekara, to abide by these factors, in creating the explaining the characteristics of a universal identities of the adherents they have the religion, can be considered useful. tendency to shift from these features. The dynamics of this inclination create a variety of Principle of Universality . There must be issues integrally connected to the identities of nothing in the basic beliefs of the religion that these religious categories. Hence through this confines it to a particular nation, race or ethnic paper it is expected to elaborate this group. Thus if there is a notion of a “chosen phenomenon to contribute to the area of this people” then this characteristic is violated. research.

Non-Exclusiveness of Membership Basic Theoretical Framework Any person could be an adherent of the religion The nexus between ethnicity and religion is the concerned, and be entitled to the same foundation of the theoretical framework of this privileges and obligations as every other paper. This is done by taking account of the person. This of course does not require every theory created by Yang and Ebaugh from their follower of the religion to be of the same level extensive research done on this subject. of achievement, but only that some external According to these two scholars the nexus factor like race or caste prevents individuals between ethnicity and religion can be identified from full participation in the religion. in three main categories. They are the “ethnic

49 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Keerthisiri Fernando Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 fusion” in which religion is considered as the Sociologically speaking, Buddhist revivalists foundation of ethnicity, “” where came to have a “love-hate” relationship with the religion is one of the many foundations of Christians, which became prominent after mid ethnicity, and thirdly “religious ethnicity” in which 19 th century. Bond has explained this in the case an ethnic group is associated with a following manner: particular religion shared by other ethnic groups. 4 This framework is enriched by the Protestant Buddhism the response of the early theory presented by Hans Mol and others on reformers who began the revival by both boundary maintenance and change handling of reacting against and imitating Christianity .6… the religious groups. 5 This is done to examine the creation and recreation of Christian identity In this process Buddhist revivalists started in the context of dynamic Buddhist identity in Sri establishments such as schools and Lanka. organisations by adopting and adjusting the structures of the Protestant church. Buddhist An Analysis worship, rituals and ceremonies went through In a country like Sri Lanka, where beliefs and drastic changes. For instance, Buddhist philosophies are taken seriously, in all revivalists started Buddhist carols or Bhakthi endeavours, these aspects play a vital role in Gee by adapting the form of Christian carols. determining behaviour patterns of people in society. In this background it is indisputable that On the other hand, after political independence these features have been an integral part of the in 1948 CE, Christians have been trying to happenings in Sri Lanka. Hence folk beliefs and become effective by adopting, adjusting and organised religious beliefs amalgamated with adapting many phenomena from the Buddhist ethnicities have become the key factors in both philosophy and culture in Sri Lanka. These are fuelling tension and also showing the capacity aspects such as church architecture, music and to reduce tension to have a better cultural symbols from the traditional Buddhist understanding of each other in society. context in this country.

Up to the present day Buddhism has existed for After political independence in 1948 CE, slowly almost 22 centuries in Sri Lanka. Along with but steadily the majority Buddhists have been Buddhism, rituals, ceremonies and practices strengthening their identity with the Sinhala connected to Hindu religiosity have been ethnicity. Over the years the consciousness of surviving in this island land. As Middle Eastern Buddhists as the chosen people of the soil and and South Indian traders have been visiting Sri of Buddhism as the foundation of their Sinhala Lanka for a very long time, with the rise of Islam ethnicity have been increasing, creating many in the seventh century, gradually Islam also was decisive issues in Sri Lanka. This has established in Sri Lanka. contributed towards the creation of an identity crisis for Sinhala Christians who do not share Beginning from the 16 th century with the the same philosophy, although they share many introduction of Christianity under the colonial cultural elements with Sinhala Buddhists in Sri regime, the well-established Buddhist identity Lanka. has been undergoing drastic changes in Sri Lanka. To face the challenges posed by the The encounter of Buddhism and Christianity colonial powers Buddhists have progressively over five centuries has been a theologising been strengthening their identity on ethno- experience for both these religions in Sri Lanka. religious lines. This process, which began as a However, the very word “theology” in colonial reality, has been developing in many Christianity has raised many issues for directions to recreate the denied honour of the Buddhists who believe in a religion where God Sinhala Buddhist under colonial rule. or gods are not at the centre of their faith.

50 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Keerthisiri Fernando Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Regarding this Smart has noted, priest does not look upon the as a Buddhist act. The distinction that a Buddhist The thought that you could have a religion makes in such situations is not a matter of form: which did not in any straight sense believe in it is a matter of fundamentals. Anthropologists God was a novel thought in the West and still seem to deal often only with form and not has hardly been digested. 7 fundamentals, and to that extent their findings call for caution. 11 Sinhala Buddhists in Sri Lanka have been strengthening this position to claim that the Not only anthropologists but also some saving power according to Buddhism is within Christians have not grasped this issue of form human beings without necessarily getting and fundamental of the conduct of these assistance from any entity. 8 Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Although in the purview Davies has explained this in the following of this study it is not possible to elaborate this manner: matter, for better understanding between Buddhists and Christians this needs to be deepest kind of mystical experience and quest studied carefully. can exist independently of theism 9… In the recent past Buddhists have been This belief has been used at times directly and accusing Christians, saying that they convert indirectly to counteract Christianity in which Buddhists through unethical means. In this theologically God is the centre of all realities. regard, apart from inflammatory writings, there Consequently Buddhists have been working have even been physical assaults on Christian hard to achieve their goals with human efforts, churches. Efforts have even been made to bring often reminding themselves of a famous saying legislation to prevent this so-called unethical of the Lord Buddha: “One’s own hand is the conversion. Although in a short paper of this shade to his own head.” nature it is not possible to elaborate all the issues related to this reality, let us highlight Although it is not required to believe in God or some important concerns. gods to be a Buddhist, the pantheon of gods has a very significant place in popular Buddhist First of all the fact should be taken into worship. However in Buddhist belief these gods consideration that today the Christian minority are “much lower than the Lord Buddha.” 10 At the as a community does not enjoy significant same time, according to Buddhist belief these political or military power in Sri Lanka. Then the gods are lower than human beings as well. question is why some Buddhists are threatened by some of their activities? Today the Christian Yet the interaction of ordinary Buddhists in minority is about 7% and is geographically well certain Christian worship activities is a visible spread in Sri Lanka. They use all three main reality in Sri Lanka. In this regard it is languages of Sri Lanka (Sinhala, Tamil and highlighted by some scholars that English) equally in their activities. Ethnically anthropologists have misapprehended certain Christians are comprised almost equally of behaviours of ordinary Buddhists. The following Sinhala and Tamil, the two main ethnic groups observation by Gunasinghe highlights this of Sri Lanka. Among Christians the literacy rate reality: is almost 100% and the knowledge of English, the international language, is higher than in the A Buddhist Sinhalese who takes a vow at a other groups in Sri Lanka. The percentage of Catholic church will not imagine that he is taking international relationships of Christians is also a Buddhist vow, for there are no such vows in better than the other groups in Sri Lanka. These Buddhist practice. A Buddhist who wishes to realities clearly show that Christians have a benefit from the laying on of hands by a Catholic disproportionate representation in Sri Lanka. In

51 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Keerthisiri Fernando Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 other words it can be said that the Christian state of affairs has created an identity crisis for minority has been living with a majority the Sinhala Christians in the bosom of the psychology owing to these facts. Sinhala Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka.

On the other hand Buddhists mainly confine Conclusion themselves to the Sinhala language for their The brief analysis shows that Christians and activities, and almost all the Buddhists ethnically Buddhists have been living with a kind of belong to the Sinhala category. Unlike xenophobia in Sri Lankan society. Christians Christians, the majority of the Buddhists in Sri have been expanding their boundaries with the Lanka live in rural areas where they are not international realties, perhaps with little much exposed to international realties in the attention to the contextual realties around world. These circumstances have caused these them. On the other hand Sinhala Buddhists Buddhists to develop a minority psychology in have been strengthening their local identity this country. with the Sinhala ethnic group that have developed phobias for many groups including The tension between Sinhala and Tamil ethnic Christians. This shows the necessity of keeping groups has been making Sinhala Christians both global and local realities in proper balance vulnerable in the area of boundary maintenance and tension by both Buddhists and Christians for the identity making of this group. These in Sri Lanka. Sinhala Christians were often forced to have a dichotomy in their identity in Sri Lanka. In this Hence it is clear that the mutual enriching and dichotomy this Sinhala Christian group has enhancing of these two world religions both been identifying religion-wise with Tamil sociologically and theologically could inspire Christians while ethnically they were doing the “xenophilia” instead of the prevailing same with Sinhala Buddhists. Therefore this xenophobia in Sri Lankan society.

1G. P. V.Somaratna, , Sri Lankan Church History (In Sinhala) , Marga Sahodaratvaya, Nugegoda. Sri Lanka 1992 2 G. P. V. Somaratna Sri Lankan Church History (In Sinhala) , Marga Sahodaratvaya, Nugegoda. Sri Lanka , 1992 3 V.A. Gunasekara An Examination of the Institutional Forms of with Special Reference to Ethnic and Meditational Buddhism , The of Queensland, PO Box 536, Toowong Qld 4066, Australia , 1994. < http://www.buddhanet.net/bsq14.htm > 4 F. Yang, & H.E. Ebaugh, ‘Religion and Ethnicity Among New Immigrants :The Impact of Majority/ Minority Status in Home and Host Countries’, Journal for Scientific Study of Religion , 40:3, 2001, p.369. 5 Hans Mol, (Ed) Identity and Religion: International, Cross Cultural Approaches , Saga Publication Ltd, 28 Banner Street, London , 1978 . p.2. 6 G. D. Bond, The Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka , , Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi, 1988 p.5. 7 N Smart, ‘The Contribution of Buddhism to the Philosophy of Religion’, in Buddhist Contribution to World Culture and Peace , Edited by N.A. Jayawickrama, Mahendra Senanayake, Sridevi Printing Works, 27, Pepiliyana Road, Nedimala – Dehiwala, Sri Lanka, 1984, p. 89. 8 D.J. Davies, Meaning and Salvation in Religious Studies, E.J. Brill, Leiden, The , 1984, p .1. 9 N. Smart, ‘The Contribution of Buddhism to the Philosophy of Religion’, in Buddhist Contribution to World Culture and Peace , Edited by N.A. Jayawickrama, Mahendra Senanayake, Sridevi Printing Works, 27, Pepiliyana Road, Nedimala – Dehiwala, Sri Lanka, 1984, p. 90. 10 L.de Silva, Buddhism : Beliefs and Practices in Sri Lanka, Ecumenical Institute, 490/5, Havelock Road,

52 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Keerthisiri Fernando Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Colombo 6, Sri Lanka , 1980, p.63. 11 S Gunasinghe,. ‘Buddhism and Sinhala Rituals’, in Buddhist Contribution to World Culture and Peace , Edited by N.A. Jayawickrama, Mahendra Senanayake, Sridevi Printing Works, 27, Pepiliyana Road, Nedimala – Dehiwala, Sri Lanka, 1984, p.38.

Keerthisiri Fernando is Chair of the Interfaith Desk of the Anglican Diocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is a former lecturer, postgraduate dean and acting principal of the Theological College of Lanka, in Pilimatalawa, Sri Lanka.

53 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Ruwan Palapathwala Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

The Significance of Buddhism for Christian self-understanding in the West

Ruwan Palapathwala

Introduction adaptations of the three main traditions: (the “Small Vehicle” which is also Today, it is an undeniable fact that Buddhism known as Theravada, the “teaching” or the has come to play a significant role in shaping “tradition” of the Elders), Mahayana (the Great the religious landscape of the globe. Since the Vehicle) and Vajirayana (the Diamond Vehicle). socio-cultural and political history of the West The Buddhism which is practiced by an has been predominantly influenced by increasing number of westerners is either a Christianity since the 3rd Century CE, the tradition that represents one of these three increasing influence of Buddhism in the West is traditions or a more eclectic form of “Buddhism” a significant development that should be taken which is made up of elements from all three seriously to inform our Christian self- traditions that can be easily adapted to understanding in the West. contemporary religious, ethical, political and economic thought forms. This eclectic form of Without reference to Buddhism, Christian self- Buddhism is known as (the new understanding in the West, as I will argue, will vehicle) or Western Buddhism. The remain impaired and subjugated to the obsolete Buddhist Movement in India also claims the colonial worldview and the present status of being a Navayana. homogenising global force – globalisation – which promulgates the ideals of Christendom in In a nutshell, Buddhism explains that the human the forms of capitalism and neocolonialism. In being is an embodiment of “five instruments of this context, Christian “self-understanding” is clinging” to the phenomenal world: i) mind and not only a matter of a cerebral process of matter; ii) sensations; iii) perceptions; iv) mental intellectual self-examination, but a way of being formations, and; v) consciousness which are and orienting ourselves – living and acting – to without substance, subject to change and thus be God’s people with a profound understanding tainted with suffering. Hence, for one to have a of the world in which we live. fixation about an ego-centric self – the attachment to the self-idea – is both the source and basis of existence and suffering in all its What is Buddhism? forms; it is the pretext to live an ignorant and a delusional life which, in effect, cultivates the “Buddhism” is a philosophy of life which had its necessary conditions ( ) for the re- genesis in the teachings of Buddha Gotama materialisation of the constituents of the five who was born around the year 600 BCE at the instruments of clinging (popularly, this process foothills of the Himalayas in modern . is misunderstood as “”). However, as a result of the classification of religions in the nineteenth century, in The human being who is ignorant of the true contemporary times, Buddhism is also called a nature of existence, Buddhism teaches, thus “religious tradition” and sometimes a “faith subjects him/herself to many circles of birth, tradition”. decay and old age, disease and death. Understanding the true nature of this state of Buddhism is made up of several schools of affairs in life is enlightenment which facilitates thought which are either branches or the ending of the re-materialisation of the

54 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Ruwan Palapathwala Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 constituents of the five instruments of clinging. a representation of the mentality of the This is salvation – the realization of the European Enlightenment which has come to be deathless (nirvana). This attainment is possible reflected in the predominantly Eurocentric through following the Eight-fold Path which is theology of the church. In the minds of the considered to consist of three-part practical missionaries of the post-Enlightenment era, steps. Firstly, ethical conduct – Right Speech, colonising the “world” went almost hand-in-hand Right Action, Right Livelihood; secondly, mental with Jesus’ Great Commissioning in Mark 16:15 development – Right Effort, Right Attentiveness, where He is quoted as having said: “Go into all Right Concentration; and thirdly, wisdom – the world and preach the good news to all Right Aspiration and Right Understanding. creation.” Like some of the propagators of the Enlightenment, these missionaries believed that their values should be universally applied – they Background to Buddhism’s Influence in tended to see Europe as the most enlightened the West and advanced part of the world. They perceived Europe to be more civilised than the rest of the Predominantly, Buddhism’s influence in the globe which, in effect, led to the dangerous West is important for Christian self- opinion that other countries and races must be understanding in two respects: firstly, to colonised, exploited or bettered, and converted highlight the necessity of departing from the to their particular view – that is, to Christianity. apparent theological apathy towards religions other than Christianity – an unfortunate heritage To cite an example, this mentality was from the colonial missionary enterprise – and represented in a more refined form by a secondly, to underline the invaluable particular line of thought developed by Ernst commentary Buddhism provides on the Troeltsch (1865-1923). He was a representative consequences of three developments in the of a German school of thought known as the West which defines the situation of the world in Religiongeschichteschule (the School of History general and the West in particular. These three of Religions). Along with a few others, Troeltsch developments are: advancements in promulgated the idea that Christianity technology, the propagation of the market- represented the highest form of religion in the based economy and the spread of globalisation. development of religion throughout history. 2 This idea had a formative influence on many Continental Christian theologians of the last Theological Apathy towards Other century and thus, in my view, they Religions: It was only a century ago that subconsciously made it difficult for themselves Buddhism and other religions of Asia – the so- to develop a genuine theology of religions when called “Oriental religions” – were considered it became necessary – especially in the period primitive and “pagan”. This theological apathy that followed the Second World War. is inherent in the “Western” character of and the outlook on Christianity, which are expressed in There is a further, less conspicuous reason to the superior position it has come to assume for make Christianity superior (in the eyes of itself above other world religions and in the Christians at least) over other religions. Long political forces of neocolonialism and the market before the period preceding the European forces of capitalism and globalisation. To that Enlightenment and the discovery of various degree, the Christianity we know in the West is, non-Christian religious phenomena through the in many respects, an embodiment of the values colonisation of many parts of the world, religions and ideals of Western civilisation. 1 as we know them today were not clearly defined and categorised as “religious traditions”, “faiths” A careful study of the issue of Christianity’s or “-isms”. In fact, none of the religions that has superiority shows that it is not a biblical fact but an “-ism” – for instance, Hinduism, Jainism,

55 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Ruwan Palapathwala Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Buddhism, Daoism, , depression in the industrialised West in 1929 and so on – were “-isms” in the and the devastation in Vietnam after 1945, sense we have come to understand the term – concentration camps, vast scale genocide in that is, as a distinctive doctrine, system, or the African continent, the tragedy of former theory. This “-ismising” was largely a product of Yugoslavia, the two Gulf Wars, the current war what is known as British empiricism which was in Afghanistan, the widening gap between the the eighteenth century philosophical movement rich and the poor worldwide and damage to the in Great Britain which maintained that all environment. knowledge comes from experience. The World Council of Churches came into Classification of various phenomena which existence as a prophetic reaction to some of were either philosophies of life, or religious these developments at the end of the Second cults, or both into categories of thought or World War. Its very first Assembly in Amsterdam ideologies is somewhat responsible for the in 1948 (August 22 - September 4) was a misunderstandings we have faced in the past reaction to the postwar situation, and was and continue to face in the present. This clearly reflected in its general theme: “ Man’s categorisation has led to the unfortunate Disorder and God’s Design .” It recognised this practice of comparing and contrasting one moment in history as a “fateful moment” and religious “-ism” with another, and especially with commented on the times as “… a moment of Christianity as the criterion. peril for all mankind which is without precedent in the whole human history. Frustration and fear However, since about the time of the end of the grip the minds of men and women. This is true First World War, these religions have ascended not only of the masses who feel themselves to prominence and proved that they have a caught in a fate over which they have no power, great capacity to both articulate the cultural ego but hardly less of their leaders who hold in their of some of Asia’s decolonised nations and to be hands the guidance of events which they are alternatives to Christianity, which had suffocated unable to control”. 3 under the influence of modernity. While the former is evident in the postcolonial nationalist The Assembly also identified that “man’s movements in Asia – Sri Lanka and India, for disorder” was not only the result of the war as instance – the latter is visible in the popularity such but also a reflection of the “sickness of Buddhism and other Asian-born religions have civilisation” which had been far advanced gained in Western societies. before the war, but which was aggravated by it.

The irony about all these developments is not Technology, Market-based Economy and that such “advances” took place in the West, but Globalisation: Today, many have come to that the “Christian tradition”, which evolved as acknowledge that while our forbears over the an inseparable partner of the Western tradition, last century were responsible for many provided much of the “cultural resources” – that beneficial advances in science, unfortunately – is, symbols, meanings and ideologies which along with advances in technology – they are provide legitimacy to the collective actions of also chiefly accountable for creating destruction the political players of a civilisation – that were and devastation in a fashion that humanity had responsible for such events and developments. never experienced before. Some examples of The “just-war” theory is one such ideology of the the vast scale of the destruction which West. technology has brought upon humanity are: the two World Wars, the Stalinist terror, the Shoah Historians such as Max Weber and, lately, (), the atomic bombing of Japan, Randall Collins have shown the extent of the the war in , the hostility in Algeria, the church’s role in the birth and flowering of

56 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Ruwan Palapathwala Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 capitalism. While Max Weber located the origin against them. Thus both Western and non- of capitalism in Protestant cities following the Western critics of globalisation have been European Enlightenment, Randall Collins has quick to react against the neoliberalist shown that capitalism had already existed in tendencies of globalisation which de- the Middle Ages in rural areas, where emphasise or reject government intervention monasteries – especially those of the in the domestic economy. The focus on free- Cistercians (Religious of the Order of Cîteaux, market methods and the opening up of foreign a Benedictine reform, established at Cîteaux markets by political means, using economic in 1098 by St. Robert, Abbot of Molesme in the pressure, diplomacy, and/or military Diocese of Langres) – began to rationalise intervention have proved destructive to local economic life. 4 identities. Furthermore, multilateral political pressure exercised through international According to Collins, it was the church that organisations or treaty devices – such as the established what Max Weber called the World Trade Organisation and World Bank – “preconditions of capitalism.” These include have reduced the role of national governments the rule of law and a bureaucracy for resolving to a minimum. In every instance, success is disputes rationally, a specialised and mobile measured by economic gain. labour force; the permanence of institutions which enabled transgenerational investment It is somewhat ironic that as globalisation and and sustained intellectual and physical efforts, its older brother – capitalism – had their birth in together with the accumulation of long-term the West and that, through certain historical capital, and a zest for discovery, enterprise, anomalies which I explained earlier , they are wealth creation, and new undertakings. By the associated with the forms of Christianity time of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth prevalent in the West. While quite clearly the century the capitalist ethos was so well world has stepped onto a stage fondly called established that it was able to flourish in a “post-Christian” one could see that the more secular environment with religion facing residues of Christendom have not totally diminution in the post-Enlightenment years to disappeared – they continue to live in the follow. legacies of capitalism, neo-colonialism, and neo-liberalism – another name for These developments in the market economy globalisation. have predominantly contributed to the modern While the word neo-colonialism has many Western tendency to measure the character connotations, one clear manifestation of it is and the success of the world predominantly in the contemporary forms of imperialism. As we political and economic terms, facilitated by the witnessed with regard to the invasion of Iraq spread of one political system – democracy – in March 2003, the unjust and oppressive and mass industry. In this respect, expressions of Western political power are globalisation is the process by which these examples of contemporary imperialism. As political and economic ideologies are brought Kwame Nkrumah observed nearly four into effect. decades ago, among many other expressions, neo-colonialism is also expressed through the Globalisation has created a crisis by imperial power of new actors such as the integrating all scientific, cultural, political and or international financial and economic activities of humanity into one monetary organisations. He also showed that worldwide network. It has begun to because of the nuclear parity between the two detrimentally affect every culture because its superpowers – the USA and at that time the technological and economic principles tend to former USSR – the conflicts between the two purposely impose supra-techno-economic, take place in the form of “limited wars” which value-free and global structure over and are waged in neo-colonial territories. 5

57 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Ruwan Palapathwala Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

The Significance of Buddhism for Christian • a means to revitalise the depleted spiritual Self-understanding sap of the Western civilisation. Fr Aloysius Pieris SJ, goes so far as to say: “…[the] Based on the above brief account, I argue that contemporary West, in allowing itself to be the pervading influence of Buddhism in the seduced by the mystique of the East, may West is a direct response to these issues and probably be indulging in a massive more pertinently to the breakdown of the sociological ritualisation of a deep spiritual fabric of Western society. In that psychological need to sharpen its Oriental respect, Buddhism’s ascendancy to popularity instinct blunted by centuries of misuse”. 6 is both a challenge and a superior alternative to the predominant and globalised Western world In these respects, the commentary Buddhism order and its cause in history at present – that gives of the world presents a clear context and is, its continuous exploitation of its “(Christian) a dimension for our Christian self-understanding cultural resources” through the forces of and a challenge to appraise our Christian self- capitalism, globalisation and neo-colonialism. In understanding in the West which had been – that respect, an understanding of Buddhism’s and continue to be – interwoven with the influence can provide a clear commentary on developments that I have outlined. the world’s situation. In conjunction with such a commentary one could see how the teachings The commentary Buddhism gives brings to the of Buddhism are perceived as: fore three important considerations for defining and understanding ourselves in the world: i) the • an antidote and cure for the unbearable ascendancy of Buddhism in the West as well as saturation of materialism, consumerism and in their native lands as a clear indicator of the individualism being experienced at present failure of the Christian-Western influence on the in the West. world situation since the European Enlightenment; ii) the negative effects of the • an alternative to a civilisation tainted with world-order based on market economy and blood spilt over continuous “religious and globalisation, which are secular expressions of political” wars. the vision of Christendom in post-Christendom – one world order; and iii) the superiority • offering “non-theological” practical answers complex of Christianity as a Eurocentric to these ills outside the Judeo-Christian and worldview. Islamic worldviews and conceptual frameworks. These present new challenges to all Christians, in general, and to Christians in the West, in • an ethical, practical and rational guide particular, as we attempt to understand through life without placing any metaphysical ourselves and engage with the world importance on God (Who is wrongly blamed meaningfully in the present. The historical time for the demise of the Enlightenment ideals). in which God has made Buddhism a decisive factor in our self-understanding is kairotic – a • an alternative to scientific naturalism and divinely appointed moment in our history to the loss of the sense of mystery and moral which we cannot afford not to respond. responsibility.

1 Wolfhart Pannenberg, ‘Christianity and the West: Ambiguous Past, Uncertain Future.’ First Things 48, Dec 1994 pp.18-23 . 2 The Absoluteness of Christianity , Richmond VA: John Knox, 1971

58 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Ruwan Palapathwala Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

3 Henry P. Van Dusen, General Introduction, Man’s Disorder and God’s Design Vol, London: SCM, 1948, p.9 4 Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism , Trans. Talcott Parsons, London: Allen & Unwin, 1976; Randall Collins, “Weber’s Last Theory of Capitalism”, American Sociological Review 45, 1980, pp.925- 42. 5 Kwame Nkrumah , Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism, London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1965. 6 Aloysius Pieris, Love Meets Wisdom: A Christian Experience of Buddhism , Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988, p. 8.

Ruwan Palapathwala has recently become Senior Anglican Chaplain for Dubai with Sharjah and the Northern Emirates. He was previously a Research Associate and Lecturer in Asian Religions at the Melbourne College of Divinity, the Senior Chaplain at RMIT University, Melbourne, the Parish Priest of St. Alban’s Anglican Church, North Melbourne, the Director of the Centre for Society and Interfaith Dialogue (Melbourne) and the Chair of the Commission for Living Faith and Community Relations of the Victorian Council of Churches. He has published widely on the intertextuality of the Holy Books, globalization, interfaith dialogue, terrorism, pastoral care, suffering, ageing and spirituality in later life.

59 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Christian Self-Understanding and the Question of Dual Belonging

Rose Drew

Grow ing interaction between religious traditions in thought and practice? In 1990 Sallie King (a in the West today means religious identities are Zen Buddhist and a Quaker) wrote: increasingly formed under the influence of more than one tradition. It is not, for example, I am intrigued by the condition of those of us uncommon to hear of Christians who attend who have more than one worldview in our classes or read books by hearts and minds. ... [E]ach worldview exists as popular Buddhist figures such as the Dalai an intact package. But it is not alone. There is Lama. Although fewer we also find Christians another intact package functioning there. … who have entered so deeply into Buddhist .How, then, do we live? ... Unfortunately, this thought and practice that Buddhism has come condition and all its intriguing possibilities is very to seem to them as much their own tradition as little explored. 5 is Christianity. Terms such as ‘multiple belonging’ or ‘dual belonging’ become While Buddhist Christian dual belonging has, appropriate where individuals are firmly rooted over the last decade, begun to receive attention, in – and identify themselves as committed there is still much exploratory work to be done. adherents of – both traditions. 1 In the most My recent doctoral research has sought to unequivocal cases of Buddhist Christian dual contribute to this work. Focussing on Buddhist belonging, people practise within both Christian dual belongers living in the West who traditions, belong to a Buddhist and a Christian were raised in a Christian context and came to community, identify themselves as being Buddhism later, I explored in detail the Buddhist and Christian, and have made a theological, philosophical, and practical formal commitment to both traditions (usually questions to which this significant contemporary through baptism 2 and the taking of the three development gives rise. In this paper, I will point refuges 3). John Dunne describes the temporary to some of the main themes and conclusions of adoption of a religious perspective other than my research and will suggest that, rather than one’s own in terms of “passing over” and posing a threat to the Christian tradition, dual “coming back” 4. For some Buddhist Christian belongers have much to contribute to it. dual belongers, their identity is the result of a process (or many processes) of passing over My Interviewees and coming back in which they have found it neither possible nor desirable to return to At this early stage in academic attempts to precisely the place which they left, for they find understand the phenomenon of dual belonging, themselves and their understanding changed discussing the questions to which it gives rise by this process, to such a degree that the with reference to the experience of actual dual religion of the other is no longer perceived as belongers seems likely to be the most fruitful ‘other’, and passing over to it comes to seem approach. Hence the writings of, and interviews as much a return home as the return to the with, six “pioneers” provided a concrete context perspective and practices of the tradition in for my research. All these individuals have which they were raised. publicly identified themselves with both What are we to make of this phenomenon? Is it traditions. Five are based in the US and are possible to be a faithful Christian and a faithful internationally recognised figures in the field of Buddhist? How are these traditions combined Buddhist-Christian dialogue, the other is a UK-

60 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 based Anglican eremitic and Buddhist does not understand himself as a Buddhist as teacher. I will introduce them, briefly. such . Rather, Keenan describes himself as a “Mah āyāna Christian”. He sees himself as The late Roger Corless was Professor Emeritus philosophically Buddhist, and he interprets the of Religion, Duke University, and co-founder of and Christian theology through the the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies and lens of Mah āyāna philosophy. its journal. Originally from the UK, he had lived in the US since the 1960s. He was a Roman Sallie King is Professor of Philosophy and Catholic and a Tibetan Buddhist in the Gelugpa Religion at James Madison University, tradition (though his Buddhist practice Harrisonburg, Virginia. She is a Zen Buddhist increasingly incorporated elements). and a Quaker. 11 King publicly claims a “double Corless first identified himself publicly as religious identity” and has had this dual someone who practised both Buddhism and commitment for more than twenty years 12 She Christianity in 1986. 6 He did not, however, is happy to be described as a “Buddhist- regard himself “as a Buddhist and a Christian” Christian” or a “Buddhist-Quaker” (350) 13 but but as “an entity that is able to function emphasises that she understands herself as authentically in both Buddhism and “100% Buddhist and 100% Quaker”: it’s not a Christianity”. 7 When he died in 2007 (just fifty-fifty commitment (348). months after I interviewed him), his memorial service included Buddhist and Christian Originally from Germany, Maria Reis Habito elements. lives with her husband, Ruben Habito, and their two sons in Dallas. She is the International Originally from the Philippines, Ruben Habito Program Director for the Taipei Museum of has lived in the US for more than twenty years, World Religions, Director of Global Family for and is Professor of World Religions and Love and Peace, and Co-director of the Spirituality at Perkins School of Theology, Interfaith Institute. She has previously held Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. academic posts and has published work in the He is a Roman Catholic (a former Jesuit priest) fields of Buddhist Studies and Interreligious and a Master in the Sanbô Kyôdan School of Dialogue. Reis Habito is a Roman Catholic and Zen. (During his training in Japan, Habito a disciple of a Taiwanese Buddhist Master who became one of the first Roman Catholics to has Chan, Therav āda, and Tibetan have kensh ō confirmed by a (hence all these influences are present in her Master. 8) He is Founding Director of the Maria own Buddhist thought and practice). She also Kannon in Dallas. Habito explains practises within the Sanbô Kyôdan Zen that he aspires to live as a Buddhist “through tradition. She has identified herself as a and through” and also to “live thoroughly in the “Buddhist Christian”, 14 and says that she Spirit of Christ Jesus” 9. identifies equally with both traditions (430).

John Keenan is Professor Emeritus of Religion, Sr. Ruth Furneaux (also known by her Buddhist Middlebury College, Vermont. He is an name, ‘Kashin sama’ 15 ) is an eremitic Anglican Episcopalian (former Roman Catholic) priest. Christian nun, and a Zen and Satipa ţţ hāna He has spent most of his academic career practitioner and teacher. Having spent time translating Mah āyāna texts from Chinese into living in Buddhist and Christian communities, English, and writing ‘Mah āyāna theology’ on the Furneaux was living alone in a small hermitage basis of those texts, “borrowing Mah āyāna near Chepstow in the UK when I interviewed philosophical themes and grafting them onto the her. Her formal practice includes sitting Christian mystic tradition” 10 . He is the only one meditation (a combination of formal of my interviewees who is not strictly a dual Satipa ţţ hāna and — just sitting), self- belonger, since he has no Buddhist practice and administered Eucharist, saying the Divine Office

61 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 and the Buddhist S ōtō Zen Office, walking conceive of the nature and goal of their spiritual meditation, chi work, and Zen brush work. lives: Can Buddhism and Christianity be Furneaux explains that she feels “at home legitimately interpreted as orientating the dual within Buddhism and within Christianity”, but belonger towards a single salvation or prefers to avoid identity labels: “What I say is liberation? And, finally, how do dual belongers my colours are nailed to the cross – you can combine the practice of Buddhism and see it in my habit – but I also wear the cross and Christianity, and is it possible to do justice to lotus: the cross is emerging from the lotus”. 16 both traditions in this regard?

The Buddhist Christian’s Challenge There is not the space to tackle these questions here, 17 so I will simply share some very general My research focussed on how reflective dual conclusions. belongers, such as my interviewees, combine the thought and practice of these two traditions The Achievement of Coherence in their lives and whether it is possible to be faithful to both. The challenge facing one as a My investigation revealed that through a dual belonger is, I suggest, two-fold. Firstly, one process of increasing familiarity with, and must find satisfactory ways of integrating the deepening understanding of, Buddhist and Christian way of thinking and being and the Christian thought and practice, it is possible for Buddhist way of thinking and being, such that dual belongers to arrive at a coherent world- dual belonging does not involve turning a blind view and self-understanding informed by both eye to apparently outright contradictions nor traditions. As Habito says, while these traditions entail being pulled in opposite directions by need to be acknowledged as distinct from one one’s religious commitments. Secondly, one another, through their mutual assimilation in must at the same time ensure that the unique one’s own life, “one comes to see them, no character, insight, and integrity of each tradition longer as contradictory nor as just adventitious is preserved and what is special and attractive mixing, but...as an integral perspective” (155). about each is not lost. He explains that there is an area in his life where the Christian and the Buddhist I am interested in the way in which this two-fold conceptual frameworks, though different, have challenge is grappled with when it comes to the found their intersection and he is “trying to live areas of thought and practice in which there is within that intersection” (141). Exploring this potential conflict between the traditions. For intersection, I found that there are orthodox example, central to Christianity is faith in a strands of thought within both traditions which personal God, whereas Buddhism recognises make it possible to conclude, from a combined no such God. How, then, do dual belongers deal Christian and Buddhist perspective, that there with this apparently serious disagreement? is one transcendent ultimate reality; that Jesus Dual belongers, moreover, have two key figures Christ and Gautama Buddha mediate ultimate at the centre of their spiritual lives: Jesus Christ reality, each in his own unique way; and that and Gautama Buddha. Can the nature and what the salvific/liberative path requires in the significance of these figures, and the here and now is the replacement of egotistical, relationship between them, be understood in a selfish ways of being with loving, wise, and way which is faithful to both traditions and compassionate ways of being (regardless of internally coherent? And how do dual belongers what the precise nature of the end of that path relate to each of these figures in their religious may be and regardless of how many lives one lives? Buddhism and Christianity can also be may have in which to pursue it). These interpreted as having significantly different agreements all contribute to the area of understandings of the nature and goal of the intersection which gives Buddhist Christian dual spiritual path. How then do dual belongers belonging its coherence.

62 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

I will just say a little more about the agreement The Dialogue Continues between Buddhist and Christian thought which I take to be most fundamental to the coherence One might worry that, since the coherence of of a dual belonger’s religious life and world- the Buddhist Christian’s world-view depends on view, and that is the affirmation – shared by the identification of various agreements Buddhists and Christians – that there is no more between the Buddhist world-view and the than one ultimate reality. This affirmation is Christian world-view, dual belongers may end crucial, since it becomes the hook upon which up unduly emphasising these agreements and both the dual belonger’s distinct religious downplaying divergences and areas of tension commitments can be hung. Jacques Dupuis as a result. Add to this the fact that cross- points out that “every religious faith constitutes fertilisation inevitably occurs between the dual an indivisible whole and calls for a total belonger’s Buddhist and Christian perspectives, commitment of the person” and suggests that it and the risk of eroding potentially important may, therefore, “easily seem a priori impossible distinctions between these traditions appears that such an absolute engagement might be high. However, the reflections of my divided, as it were, between two objects” . 18 But interviewees suggest, on the contrary, that authentic dual belonging does not require this thoroughgoing dual belonging fosters impossible – or at least undesirable – division appreciation of the uniqueness of each of these of absolute commitment, because the traditions. It is, after all, in virtue of the singularity of wholehearted and unambiguous distinctiveness of each that people belong to religious commitment depends, not on both. commitment to the thought and practice of a single tradition, but on commitment to one As one discovers converging strands of thought ultimate reality; dual belongers simply orientate within one’s Buddhist and Christian themselves towards that Reality through more perspectives, those perspectives gradually than one tradition. integrate, giving rise to a coherent world-view informed by both. But this does not mean that Catherine Cornille – a key voice in the emerging one gradually merges Buddhism and debate on dual belonging – asserts that Christianity into a single conceptual or ritual religious belonging involves “abandonment to a system. Habito, for example, is at pains to transcendent reality mediated through the emphasise that he is not interested in creating concrete symbols and rituals of a particular “a hodgepodge of Christian elements and religion. Surrender is thus not to the ultimate as Buddhist elements”, and describes this as “an such, but through – and in the end – to the irresponsible way of approaching spirituality” teachings and practices embedded in a (153-4). All my interviewees made similar concrete religious tradition”. 19 But this claim is points, emphasising the distinctiveness of each inconsistent with the traditional recognition on of these traditions and likening them to different the part of Buddhists and Christians of the languages, each of which retains its distinct limitations of all concepts and symbols with integrity even when one appreciates its overlap respect to that Reality which transcends them. with the other and allows cross-fertilisation As Wilfred Cantwell Smith puts it, authentic between them. Some emphasised strongly that faith, “is concerned with something, or each tradition has its own particular strengths, Someone, behind or beyond Christianity, or and that it is being able to draw on these Buddhism” 20 . Hence, King is able to say that respective strengths that makes dual belonging she has “one faith” in that which is “before so worthwhile. Buddhism and Christianity” (365). “I most identify with that”, she explains (364). Buddhism I found that the distinctive strengths of each and Christianity “just offer…tools. They offer perspective tended to mirror the subtle tension languages for me to try to speak” (390). between the different salvific/liberative

63 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 emphases of these two traditions – Christianity the Buddhist emphasis keeps one alive to this on loving involvement , Buddhism on wise non- possibility (375). attachment . Buddhism seems to place greater emphasis on non-attachment than love, and Another, related focus of the internal dialogue Christianity, greater emphasis on love than non- between the respective emphases of these attachment, but in both these traditions, traditions has, for King and Reis Habito, been non-attachment and love are understood as a sense that the Christian world-view accords developing in a relationship of mutual value to individuals qua individuals whereas the dependence: If love is not accompanied by non- Buddhist world-view seems to construe this attachment, it is not unconditional but emphasis as a form of egocentrism. King self-serving (one seeks one’s own particularly appreciates the fact that Quakerism, and not simply the happiness of others). If non- unlike Buddhism, values her children as unique attachment is not accompanied by love, it individuals. “In Buddhism”, says King, “valuing a becomes indifferent to the suffering of others person as a unique individual is not [even]…on and fails to show compassion and empathy. the radar screen, much less something they This means that it is possible, from a Buddhist focus on” (419). According to Buddhist and a Christian perspective, to see the teachings of an – or not self – reflects respective emphases of these two traditions as King, “ego’s the whole problem”, and she complementary. laughs to admit that she thinks that is right too. “[A]m I fostering ego in my children?”, wonders There was much in the reflections of my King; “I don’t know” (419). Reis Habito interviewees which affirmed this existential tentatively suggests that the sense of a person’s complementarity, though some reflections also uniqueness and the valuing of particular human made it clear that holding the respective relationships are aspects of the Christian world- emphases of these two traditions in tension was view by which Buddhists could perhaps be sometimes a challenge . The ongoing dialogical inspired. She also points out that Buddhists are to-and-fro inherent in the attempt to find and cautious about such issues “precisely because maintain the right balance between the when you say ‘I’m unique and God loves me’ Christian emphasis and the Buddhist emphasis that very easily…translates into ‘I’m special’ and was particularly evident with respect to some of then this ‘I’, again, is becoming so strong… the questions with which King and Reis Habito Buddhists are very careful in not giving rise to a have found themselves grappling. wrong notion of ‘I’ that’s absolutised” (498).

One issue they both raised had to do with As King’s and Reis Habito’s reflections make whether preferential love for one’s children clear, although the strengths of each contains an element of attachment and, if so, perspective are appreciated, insofar as each whether this tells us that we should not feel tradition is allowed to retain its own distinctive preferential love for our children or whether it emphasis, it does not seem that these two tells us that not all preferential love is negative. perspectives are integrated into an entirely King feels that the Christian tradition is more unified focus; their strengths do not perfectly fit affirmative of this familial preferential love than together. However, what their reflections also Buddhism (352), and that this is an issue over suggest is that the respects in which Buddhism which Christianity challenges Buddhism: and Christianity refuse to fully coincide are “…preferential love – is there a place for that? precisely the respects in which most is gained Is that just delusion?” asks King (375). from dual belonging, for it is this divergence However, she nevertheless finds that “[t]he which makes the presence of each perspective other way round…there’s a Buddhist strength most valuable to the other; and it is the points at too: preferential love can easily slide into which they converge which make each of them clinging in a destructive way”, reflects King, and aware of this, since both agree that the tension

64 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 between their respective emphases helps keep despite experiencing tension (as well as each of them ‘in check’. Rather than overlap) between them, should provide downplaying the distinctions – and even sufficient evidence that these are not people disagreements – between Buddhism and who jettison their religious commitments when Christianity, dual belongers call as much they become challenging. Moreover, King, for attention to them as they do to the overlap example, feels that the areas where the between these traditions. traditions challenge each other are areas of growth for her. She explains that deciphering Dual Belonging is Not “Supermarket the nuances in the Buddhist message about Spirituality” non-attachment was “a matter of looking more deeply and coming to a point of clarification The reflections above also illustrate that we are about it, but it was clarification which came not dealing here with a superficial mixing of bits about because of the challenge of Christianity” and pieces of Buddhism and Christianity which (377). displays no regard for the integrity of these traditions. Multireligious identities are Questions remained in certain areas for all sometimes seen as, or associated with, a those I interviewed (as they do for reflective superficial “pick and mix” approach to religion, single belongers), but their reflections suggest to what Peter Phan calls a “postmodern form of that it is not necessary to have all questions syncretism in which a person looks upon answered in order to follow a salvific/liberative various religions as a supermarket” from which path informed by these two traditions, and one selects whatever one likes, “without regard Buddhism and Christianity do not need to be to...truth values and mutual compatibilities” 21 . experienced as consistent in every regard in No doubt there are some people with order for one to draw valuable inspiration from multireligious identities whose immersion in the both. traditions from which they derive nourishment is shallow, who harbour many ill-considered and What do Dual Belongers Contribute to incompatible beliefs, who pick only the bits of a Christian Self-Understanding? tradition they like and reject the rest, and who drop commitments which become demanding; But even if it is possible to reconcile the thought but is this not also true of many who know only and practice of Buddhism and Christianity to one tradition? Indeed, I suggest that, in such a degree that one can be faithful to both important respects, dual belongers are actually traditions, we might still ask, from a Christian less susceptible than others to the risk of perspective, what the influence of dual superficiality since they are less able to take belongers on the Christian tradition will be. their commitments for granted , the presence of What do they bring to the Christian community? two complete and distinct perspectives being a What positive contribution might they make to potential source of genuine existential angst Christian self-understanding? As Paul Knitter unless one submits to the challenge of acknowledges in his recent monograph investigating both in order to try to understand reflecting on his own Buddhist Christian identity, how they fit together. the question is an important one. Unless dual belonging is to be considered an entirely My interviewees demonstrate that it is possible personal matter, it must be something that is to be thoroughly immersed in two traditions, to shared with one’s Christian community. And as achieve a considerable degree of overall Knitter admits, “if you can’t share and celebrate coherence, and to take the demands of both and explore your spiritual beliefs and practices traditions seriously without reservation. The with your community, you may not really belong very fact that they have sustained their to that community” .22 So what will the results of commitment to both traditions over many years, this sharing be?

65 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

I suggest their primary contribution is threefold. with ease between them and living in a religious Firstly, dual belongers encourage fresh fellowship with both communities, “are perspectives on Christian practice. This is obviously called to be mediators” 26 . Reis particularly true of their recognition of the Habito’s reflections suggest she has often found spiritual value of meditation – a recognition from herself in precisely this role: “you talk from which many Christians stand to benefit. As within but you can also talk from without and Ursula King argues, the neglect of meditation in you can explain things in a double way”, says churches is a problem. “There is far too much Reis Habito. “[I]t makes ... [people] very much emphasis on the spoken word and external wonder where this openness can come from action”, contends King. “In contemporary culture and where this acceptance of the other can we are externally overstimulated by words, come from … So, in that sense, … to have both images, and constant noise, which seem to traditions in me is a great blessing maybe also drown the quiet search of our inner being” 23 . for others” (491). Crucially, through their She suggests that many people today are pioneering dialogical efforts, Buddhist seeking a new wholeness and that is why so Christians demonstrate to their fellow Christians many people are turning to meditation, in need that complete openness to the insights of others of “a time and place for quietness and spiritual need not lead to a weakening of Christian nourishment”. Annewieke Vroom, reflecting on commitment. how she has been influenced by her encounter with Buddhism, shares a diary-entry which Indeed, my interviewees found that, in coming supports King’s sentiments: to identify with a second tradition, their Christian faith was, in fact, strengthened . As one Sitting in church I feel suffocated with form. The endeavours to discover the respects in which images, the songs, the sermon, the communion Buddhist and Christian thought converge, one is – the fullness of it all is overwhelming. Where is prompted by one’s new perspective to the emptiness? Even in the two minutes silence interrogate one’s original perspective and, in so we need to pray. I long to sit on a pillow and doing, to clarify and deepen it, and to appreciate meditate. I feel estranged from my own place of its truth more profoundly as a result. Hence, worship 24 Fabrice Blée insightfully describes the process which leads to genuine dual belonging as a Vroom explains that although her loyalty to the “twofold conversion” inasmuch as it involves Christian tradition is not exclusive, she feels a coming to share the Buddhist vision and to greater commitment to the Christian tradition appreciate its truth, and at the same time than to the Buddhist, and wants to assist in returning to the heart of Christianity 27 . As well developing the Christian tradition in order to as encouraging a greater openness to the help it survive in Europe. Yet she feels that if it insights of other traditions, dual belongers may had not been for her contact with Buddhism , also help renew the faith of their fellow she might well have lost contact with Christians more directly, by sharing their Christianity altogether 25 . These reflections deepened understanding with them. suggest that the integration of meditation into Christianity, which dual belongers help facilitate, This brings us to the third main contribution of will, for many, have a sustaining and renewing dual belongers. Through their assimilation of influence on their Christian practice. Buddhist insights into Christianity, and Christian insights into Buddhism, dual belongers help Secondly, dual belongers influence Christian expedite the mutual transformation of self-understanding by encouraging and Christianity and Buddhism, often stated as an facilitating Christian participation in dialogue. aim of dialogue. John Cobb argues that if Michael Amaladoss contends that people who Christianity is a living movement, then it requires feel at home in two symbolic worlds, moving Christians today to commit themselves to the

66 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 task of learning from other traditions: “In “having two religious universes linked in faithfulness to Christ I must be open to others”, dialogue inside oneself, each being welcome in contends Cobb. “When I recognize in those its originality and deepened in its specificity”. others something of worth and importance that Yet, at the same time, dual belonging opens up I have not derived from my own tradition, I must a way of being “in which the other’s universal be ready to learn even if that threatens my truth becomes mine” 30 . present beliefs” 28 . Dual belongers exemplify this readiness to learn, and accept the risk that Thus, the transformation of Christian self- accompanies it. The dialogue between understanding which Buddhist Christian dual Buddhism and Christianity is, for dual belongers, belonging helps facilitate is not only no threat to internal and central to their spirituality. It is, Christianity, it actually strengthens the tradition therefore, likely that the transformation of in its universality and uniqueness, making its Christian self-understanding resulting from this survival more likely. Through their integration of dialogue will move faster in their lives than it will Buddhist insights, dual belongers help broaden in the Christian tradition at large. Hence, the Christianity making it more comprehensive and reflections of these pioneers may point us in hence more worthy of its claim to universality . some of the directions future global theology will Yet at the same time, through their deepening take as, increasingly, Christians – along with appreciation of the distinctiveness of their brothers and sisters in other traditions – Christianity, they help make Christians more come to see themselves as heirs to the whole aware of the particularity of the Christian religious history of humankind and to embrace, tradition, of the historical contingencies which within the context of dialogue, the challenge of have helped shape it, and of its unique spiritual working out how the insights of the various genius and, hence, of its specific contribution to traditions of the world relate to each other. global dialogue. Conversely, barricading the doors of the Church, in the hope of keeping the In his groundbreaking 1981 work, Towards a influence of the other out, only weakens World Theology , Wilfred Cantwell Smith Christianity’s claim to universality and fails to presented “World Theology” as a kind of demonstrate its unique contribution to global permanent interreligious colloquium, generating dialogue. theologies which, although Christian or Buddhist, say, are also “more than” Christian or “So, with my Buddhist-Christian practice and Buddhist 29 . In line with this vision, the self- hybrid identity, am I on the cutting edge or the understandings of dual belongers reveal a outer edge of my Christian community?” asks Christianity transformed by dialogue—a Knitter. I believe his hope is justified, that he is Christianity which recognises its own on the cutting edge, and “that this ‘edge’ is uniqueness, while at the same time recognising, leading to what some call ‘a new way of being and benefitting from, the distinctive strengths of church’ – a church that lives and finds life others. As Blée says, dual belonging involves through dialogue” 31 .

1 Cornille takes Christian Buddhist and multireligious identities to be the most common manifestation of this phenomenon in the West (2003: 43). The prevalence of Buddhist Christian multireligious identities seems borne out by the significant internet presence of people identifying themselves as both Buddhist and Christian, some online groups having many hundreds of members. See, e.g., ‘A Christian Buddhist Gathering Page’: http://webspace.webring.com/people/tj/jmalcomson/christianbuddhist.html (last access May 2010). This site is run by John Malcomson, a self-identified “Christian Buddhist”, who explains: “We discuss the similarities between Christianity and Buddhism as well as whether being a Christian/Buddhist or Buddhist/Christian is valid or possible”. See also ‘Buddhist Christian Vedanta Network’: http://buddhist- christian.org/ (last access May 2010), and Joseph Anderson’s blog, ‘Lotus and Lily Field Notes’: http://www.lotuslily.net/ (last access May 2010). For further relevant links, see Victoria Scarlett’s ‘Links for Buddhist-Christian practitioners’: http://www.lotuslily.net/?page_id=260 .

67 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

2 Together with personal faith, baptism is traditionally understood as the criterion for Christian identity, although, since infant baptism means baptism is not always one’s own choice, Christian practice and community membership are perhaps more accurate indicators of lived Christian identity. 3 The Buddha is the teacher of the Dharma (the truth about the way things are and how to act in accordance with this truth) and the community of accomplished disciples established by him is known as the Sagha. The taking of refuge in these ‘three jewels’ is often realised in the recitation of a threefold formula: ‘To the Buddha I go for refuge; to the Dharma I go for refuge; to the Sagha I go for refuge.’ As Rupert Gethin explains, this is “essentially what defines an individual as a Buddhist” (1998: 34). 4 J.S. Dunne, The Way of All the Earth: Experiments in Truth and Religion, New York: Macmillan , 1972. P.ix 5 Sallie B. King, ‘Toward a Buddhist Model of Interreligious Dialogue’, Buddhist-Christian Studies , Vol. 10, 1990 pp. 121-126. 6 Roger J. Corless, ‘The Mutual Fulfillment of Buddhism and Christianity in Co-inherent Superconsciousness’, in Ingram, P.O. and Streng, F.J. (eds.), Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: Mutual Renewal and Transformation , Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986, pp. 115-136. 7 Roger J . Corless. Profiles in Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: Roger Corless . Online transcript, 1996. http://innerexplorations.com/catew/9.htm (last access May 2010), p.10 8 Kensh ō—literally “seeing the nature” in Japanese—is an initial awakening experience (a seeing of one’s Buddha Nature . This experience can then be enlarged and clarified through further practice in daily life). 9 Ruben L.F. Habito, 2007. ‘Being Buddhist, Being Christian: Being Both, Being Neither’, in D’Arcy May, J. (ed.), Converging Ways? Conversion and Belonging in Buddhism and Christianity , Klosterverlag Sankt Ottilien: EOS, 2007, p 179. 10 John P. Keenan ‘ Mah āyāna Theology: A Dialogue with Critics’, Buddhist-Christian Studies , Vol. 13 , 1993, p. 32. 11 King’s branch of Quakerism is associated with the Friends General Conference and maintains the original Quaker practices of unprogrammed Meeting for Worship and eschewal of paid ministry. 12 Sallie B. King, ‘A Pluralistic View of Religious Pluralism’, in Knitter, P.F. (ed.), The Myth of Religious Superiority: A Multifaith Exploration , New York: Orbis Books, 2005, pp. 88-101. 13 Where a page number appears without a publication reference, I am referring to my unpublished interview transcripts. 14 Maria Reis Habito ‘On Becoming a Buddhist Chritian’, in H. Kasimow , J.P. Keenan, L. Klepinger Keenan (eds), Beside Still Waters: Jews, Christians and the Way of the Buddha , Boston: Wisdom 2003, pp.201-213. 15 ‘Kashin’ means ‘fruit/result of Shin’. Furneaux translates ‘Shin’ as ‘heartmind/Spirit/God’ (letter from Furneaux to Drew dated: 23/1/06). 16 Furneaux: 91-92. The wooden symbol she wears over her habit is a copy of a ninth century Chinese Nestorian cross. 17 They are treated in detail in the monograph based on my doctoral thesis, which is forthcoming with Routledge in 2011. 18 Jacquis Dupuis ‘Christianity and Religions: Complementarity and Convergence’, in Cornille, C. (ed.), Many Mansions? Multiple Religious Belonging and Christian Identity , New York: Orbis, 2002, p.64. 19 Catherine Cornille, ‘Double Religious Belonging: Aspects and Questions’, Buddhist-Christian Studies 23, 2003, pp. 43-49. 20 Wilfred Cantwell Smith, 1962. The Meaning and End of Religion , Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1962 [1991 edition] p.13. 21 Peter C Phan, Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue , New York: Orbis, 2004, p.62. 22 Paul F. Knitter, Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian , Oxford: Oneworld, 2009, p.216. 23 Ursula King ‘A Response to Reflections on Buddhist and Christian Religious Practices’, in Gross, R.M. and Muck, T.C. (eds.), Christians Talk about Buddhist Meditation, Buddhists Talk about Christian New York and London: Continuum, 2003 [essays originally published in Buddhist-Christian Studies , 21 (2001) and 22 (2002)], pp. 140-9. 24 Annewieke Vroom, ‘Struggle for loyalty: the impact of studying another religion’ (paper given at the Sixth Study Conference of the European Network of Buddhist Christian Studies, St. Ottilien, Germany: 10-13 June 2005) p. 3. 25 Ibid.pp.3-4

68 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Rose Drew Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

26 Michael Amaladoss, ‘Double Belongingness in Religion: An Anthropo-Theological Reflection’ (paper given at the ‘Voies de l’Orient’ second European Pastoral ‘Assises’. Brussels, 11-14 November 1999, p.5 A longer version was published as ‘Double Religious Belonging and Liminality: An Anthropological Reflection’, East Asian Pastoral Review , 39 [2002]: 297-312 and, in French, as ‘La double appartenance religieuse’, in Scheuer, J. and Gira, D. [eds.], Vivre de Plusieurs Religions: Promesse ou Illusion? [Paris: Les Éditions de l’Atelier / Les Éditions Ouvrières, 2000]: 44-53). 27 Fabrice Blée, ‘Which Christian-Buddhist Way? For an articulation of the twofold religious belonging ? (paper given at the ‘Voies de l’Orient’ second European Pastoral ‘Assises’. Brussels, 11-14 November 1999, pp.1-2. A French version was published as ‘Quelle voie chrétienne-bouddhiste?’, in Scheuer, J. and Gira, D. [eds.], Vivre de Plusieurs Religions: Promesse ou Illusion? [Paris: Les Éditions de l’Atelier / Les Éditions Ouvrières, 2000]: 151-160). 28 John B. Cobb, Transforming Christianity and the World: A Way beyond Absolutism and Relativism, Knitter, P. (ed.) (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 1999, p.45. 29 Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Towards a World Theology: Faith and the Comparative History of Religion (London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1981, p.112. 30 Fabrice Bl ée Op. Cit p.2 31 Paul F. Knitter Op. Cit. pp. 216-217

Rose Drew is currently Lecturer in World Religions and Inter-Faith Studies at the University of Glasgow and has also been involved in practical inter-faith work for a number of years, including working for the Scottish Inter Faith Council (2004-2006). Her research interests are predominantly in interreligious dialogue (especially Buddhist-Christian dialogue) and the theology of religions. Her recent monograph, Buddhist and Christian? An Exploration of Dual Belonging (Routledge, 2011), addresses – from Buddhist and Christian perspectives – the question of whether, and to what extent, it is possible for an individual to be both authentically Buddhist and authentically Christian.

69 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Sr. Katrin Åmell Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

What can Christians learn from Zen?

Sr Katrin Åmell OP

I am very honoured and grateful to take part in more, God is beyond all our imagination. this consultation at the initiative of the World Fortunately, God is above all Mystery. This Council of Churches. I have been invited to say mystic dimension is inherent in the world and in a few words about Christianity and the Zen every human being. Here we find relations to tradition. Although I have written a PhD thesis the Buddhist understanding of Ultimate Reality, on Zen in the Catholic context in Japan, 1 my Sunyata , or whatever this is called. It is also on work as Director of Ecumenical Theology within this mystic level that we have the most obvious the Christian Council of Sweden for the last six meeting points with Buddhists. This is how I years has not allowed me to pursue my earlier have understood it myself in the Monastic research. Therefore what I will share with you Interreligious Dialogue and especially the is mainly based on my previous work and exchanges between Zen Buddhist monasteries experiences. Almost at the same time as I in Japan and Catholic monasteries in Europe. received the invitation to participate in this This is a dialogue based on religious consultation I had the opportunity to meet Paul experience. It has gone on for more than 40 Knitter in Stockholm and also obtained his latest years and it is generally considered a very book, Without Buddha I could not be a fruitful form of Buddhist Christian dialogue. Christian .2 When reading this book I was reminded of my earlier reflections on the subject In Buddhism experience of the awakening is of what Christians can learn from Zen. Instead more important than different attempts to of enumerating some general observations explain what Ultimate Reality is. Christianity has about the benefits of Zen meditation, I will rather advanced systems of expounding what we highlight some points from Knitter’s book and believe in, but we have to develop further the try to add some more personal, pastoral experiences of faith – the mystical dimension. A reflections which in my opinion seem to have well-known quote from the famous Catholic relevance in today’s Church and society. theologian Karl Rahner is that “In future Christians will be mystics or they will not be 1. First, I want to mention the very complex anything”. What Rahner called “future”, a couple issue of the Christian notion of God . Much has of years after the end of the Second Vatican been written on this subject, of course, and so I Council, is now present times. With the strong will only touch on it briefly here. We believe that accent on experience, Buddhism could to some God entered history through the incarnation. extent help Christians in their spiritual quest for Through Jesus Christ God became one of us, God as mystery, present in ordinary life, and although still God. However, there is a tendency also help them rediscover their own mystical to make God too human, too like us, like a sources. Many Christians who have been in “super person” with power to arrange everything contact with the Zen tradition have seen it as a as we want it. As we know, Buddhists refuse light from outside. This new perspective has any concept of God, and most definitely of God helped them to deepen their own faith and as a “super person”. I think this Buddhist refusal rediscover their own spiritual richness. – Much can be a corrective, in the sense that it liberates more could be said about this, but I want to us from too anthropomorphic ideas about God. continue with something related to this issue. It is also quite clear in Christian theology that God can never be grasped through human 2. How do we talk to others about God and our ideas or understanding. God is always much Christian faith? How do we transmit faith to the

70 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Sr. Katrin Åmell Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 next generation? These questions concern else. The finger is useful because it indicates evangelisation and catechism. Very often all our where the moon is, but it is very important to words have a tendency to be too affirmative and understand that the finger is just a finger, not too definitive, as if we have been able to say all the moon. In his latest book Paul Knitter comes there is to say. This strong affirmative language back several times to this symbol. The finger might give the impression that God is a limited can represent many things, words and doctrines being instead of the Sustainer of everything. about God, priests, ecclesial hierarchy or Usually, we use a childish language in institutions. This simple Zen image can help us catechism for small children thinking that the remind ourselves of two things: the finger itself message would be more easily understood that must be aware that it is just a finger, not the way. But children can understand and receive moon; people, who look at the finger must not impressions also without simplified words. They stop there, only see what it is pointing at. We are open to symbols, for emotions of love, for have to let the eyes leave the finger and focus what is in the atmosphere, and I have witnessed on the moon – the ultimate mystery. in Japan as well as in Sweden how children can sit in silence together with other people for a 3. The third and last point I want to underline is long while. What we remember from our own the opposite of the growing individualism in our childhood are not simplified words, but the modern societies, also in Asian countries. It has atmosphere and the persons who took care of to do with the Buddhist teaching on us, whether they loved us or not. pratityasamutpada , “ interdependent origination”. Here it is not necessary to develop the teaching I think that Buddhism can contribute to a of the twelve links of pratityasamutpada , just to renewal of the Christian apophatic theology, as mention the fundamental meaning, that we know that whatever we are trying to say everything is interrelated and that everything is about God is inadequate and that the Divine changing all the time. In our world today it is Mystery is always beyond our language. The easy to establish this. Just think of globalization, importance is that we can transmit our the financial crisis, climate change – all these experience, that there is always much more challenging questions reminding us that we are than what we can say. Otherwise, we run the very dependent on what is happening in other risk that people might think that what we have parts of the world. Interdependent origination is said is exhaustive. Many adults, who have been related to anatta , no-self, which is difficult for catechised as children, are still on that faith westerners to understand. But I think we can level, even if they have developed all other realize that selfishness is connected to aspects of adult life, like in their professional individualism and that this is harming others as work, responsibilities, intellectual reflections well as ourselves. In fact, it is a refusal to see etc .. It is important when talking about Christian that everything is interrelated. As it is a denial of faith to others that we transmit that there is reality it causes us suffering. All forms of always something more to know, something Buddhist training , which have the aim of ridding more to receive, something more to be open for, ourselves of our small egos , are certainly good. something more to wonder about. When I was In Zen tradition this is striking. We can think of in Japan for field studies many years ago I the way of sitting together in the zendo stayed most of the time in a convent with (meditation hall), the processions from one place Dominican Sisters. Once we watched a to another in monasteries, the , the manual television programme on the Zen Buddhist work together during (retreats) etc. . symbol where someone is pointing with a finger to the moon. The Sisters tried to explain the According to Knitter, the Buddhist monk Thich meaning of this symbol to me. The moon Nhat Hanh translates Sunyata , emptiness, with represents the ultimate goal, whatever we want “InterBeing”. In fact, this word makes more to call it, the awakening, God, or something sense. Everything is interrelated in the great

71 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Sr. Katrin Åmell Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

InterBeing. Even if it is risky to say that Sunyata , Christian communities. Thoughts about InterBeing, corresponds to God in Christianity, InterBeing, perichoresis and the we can see similarities with this and the Trinity, interconnectedness of everything can serve as where all is about relationships. In classical strong correctives to individualistic tendencies theology the relations in the Trinity are in our societies today and also help us to described as perichoresis , co-indwelling, which become less influenced by these destructive is also a spiritual source for all Christians and trends .

1 Katrin Åmell, Contemplation et dialogue. Quelsques exemple de dialogue entre spiritualités après le concile Vatican II . The Swedish Institute of Missionary Research: Uppsala, 1998. 2 Paul F. Knitter, Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian . Oneworld Publications: Oxford, 2009.

Katrin Åmell is a Swedish Dominican Sister and Director of Ecumenical Theology within the Christian Council of Sweden. She has a doctorate in mission studies at the University of Uppsala and has concentrated her research on interreligious dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism, especially on the dialogue of . She is a member of the Nordic Commission of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue as well as of the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the Catholic Diocese of Stockholm.

72 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Without Christ I Could Not Be a Buddhist: An Evangelical Response to Christian Self-Understanding in a Buddhist Context

Prabo Mihindukulasuriya

I. Introduction will accompany the cross-cultural process of Christian evangelization. When considering the The safe outrigger opportunity of genuine conversion, the individual or community involved in that process In his 1850 account of Christianity in British will naturally ask (whether given that option by Ceylon, Sir James Emerson Tennent the evangelist or not) how their former beliefs documents “a curious illustration ” of the and practices will relate to this new commitment tendency among Sinhala Buddhists to append to Christ. Is there any possibility of holding both formal Christianity to their traditional way of life old and new commitments together? If so, how? and thought: If not, why? The World Council of Churches ’ consultation on Christian self-understanding in A Singhalese chief came a short time since to relation to Buddhism (Colombo, 9-14 December the principal of a government seminary in 2009) carried the general consensus that Colombo, desirous to place his son as a pupil of among the many possible configurations of the institution, and agreed, without an instant ’s religious identity formation, the option of “dual hesitation, that the boy should conform to the belonging ” (understanding oneself as both discipline of the school, which requires the Buddhist and Christian at the same time) was reading of the Scriptures and attendance on the the most enlightened. In presenting an hours of worship and prayer; accounting for his evangelical response I shall take the acquiescence by an assurance that he opportunity to focus on the proposition of entertained an equal respect for the doctrines Buddhist-Christian dual belonging and its of Buddhism and Christianity. “But how can underlying presupposition of religious you, ” said the Principal, “with your superior pluralism. 2 But I will also reflect on the education and intelligence, reconcile yourself consultation ’s broader theme of Christian self- thus to halt between two opinions, and submit to understanding in relation to Buddhism from the inconsistency of professing an equal belief within my own context of contemporary in two conflicting religions? ” “ Do you see, ” Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka. replied the subtle chief, laying his hand on the arm of the other, and directing his attention to a Evangelical evaluative standpoint canoe, with a large spar as an outrigger, lashed alongside, in which a fisherman was just may mean different things to pushing off upon the lake, “do you see the style different people. Yet on the issue of self- of these boats, in which our fishermen always understanding, the insistence on personal put to sea, and that that spar is almost conversion to Christ as a relational commitment equivalent to a second canoe, which keeps the over and against any prior “religious ” affiliation first from upsetting? It is precisely so with (even to denominational Christianity) will be myself: I add on your religion to steady my own , broadly acknowledged as an evangelical because I consider Christianity a very safe peculiarity. 3 This placing of Christ as the outrigger to Buddhism .” 1 identity-giving center of an individual ’s life has decisive implications for Christian self- This exchange is a particularly eloquent local understanding in any context. With regard to example of a phenomenon that has and always self-understanding in relation to persons,

73 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 institutions and traditions of other religions, in aside a “hard pluralism ” that would claim the this instance Buddhism, my evangelical equal efficacy of two separate “religious response is, perhaps predictably, one of critical traditions ” (analogous to two paths up a affirmation. I shall explain the tension of my mountain), and opts instead for a “soft response by describing both its negative and pluralism ” which speaks of “the uniqueness of affirmative aspects. The negative part of my every individual ’s salvific/liberative journey ” in response is based on the New Testament claim which “a single person employ[s] the insights that an authentically Christian identity can have and methods of more than one religious only one true centre – the Lord Jesus Christ, tradition in order to foster the salvific/liberative who draws us into communion with the triune transformation, ” (ana -logous to two maps of God. To accommodate any other loyalties at the mountain paths from which the climber plots centre effectively constitutes an identity that is his/her own route). She states that this is something other than Christian. Therefore, I possible because, in her view, “...Buddhism and shall critique initially the proposition of religious Christianity do not undo each other ’s work; pluralism, which is almost always assumed as rather, they are mutually reinforcing and the basis for interfaith discourse. The affirmative complementary. ” One may initially comment part is based on the New Testament ’s that this is a radically individualistic proclamation of Christ ’s incarnation and interpretation of religious practice, to say resurrection, which together affirm and nothing of belonging. For such a person will transcend our encultured humanity and the eventually encounter the skepticism of both meanings of their necessarily particular traditions ’ mainstream interpreters and faith identities. Under Christ ’s renewing lordship we communities, and find full belonging only in a are then freed and enabled to discover, explore third community of other such “belongers ”. 6 and nurture inherent or adopted identities in order to love our God and neighbours more Apophatic theology and the raft analogy integrally with our whole selves. The commonplace appeal to “apophatic ” II. Why religious pluralism is a raft that theology as though it were a total admission of needs to be abandoned God ’s unknowability, followed by the assertion of “Ultimate Reality ” and the way thither as a Dual belonging and monocentric pluralism semantic blank on which an individual is free to assemble an idiosyncratic “mix and match ” path Before participating in the consultation, I is to misconstrue that brilliant insight of assumed that any proposition of genuine dual Byzantine Christianity. As Maximus the belonging would need to posit the soteriological Confessor explained, what was unknowable co-centrality of the Buddha and Christ, and was the ontological nature of God ’s being would presuppose a polycentric interpretation (divine theology ); which is different from the of religious pluralism. In my reading of Rose revealed knowability of his initiatives by which Drew ’s rigorous doctoral thesis An Exploration he relates to his creation ( divine economy ), of Buddhist Christian Dual Belonging, I learned especially in the incarnation and salvation that polycentric interpretations fail to provide a achieved through Christ in history. Furthermore, coherent theory for the experience of dual Gregory Palamas elucidated that “apophatic ” belonging. 4 Drew concludes that monocentric theology properly implies that God transcends pluralism is necessary despite the reservations both positive and negative knowledge. He is not of its iconic exponent John Hick on whether simply “unknowable ” but is “beyond the dual belonging is strictly possible ( “since one unknowable ( huperagnôstos ),” which is exactly cannot reach the summit of a mountain by why He had chosen to reveal Himself. 7 simultaneously walking up paths on different faces of that mountain ”). 5 Drew therefore sets Similarly in the Theravada tradition, the

74 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 limitation of language for describing the proof-texts are merely instances of the Buddha supramundane ( lokuttara ) by no means conceding the possibility of attaining lesser precludes the definitive communication of its goals (union with Brahma, favour with gods and path and goal. The Buddha categorically humans, etc.) in contrast to nibbana for which reiterated that the “ ” are “real, his dhamma alone showed the way. Hayes not unreal and invariable ” ( tathâni avitathâni cautions that “it would be ideologically anaññathâni ). 8 anachronistic and intellectually dishonest to try to find anticipations of a now fashionable way Buddhist analogies such as the “raft simile ” or of thinking in traditions that evolved in a social the “finger pointing to the moon ” are not and political setting entirely different from that admissions of the ultimate inexactitude, of the present world. ”10 In conclusion, Hayes relativity or optionality of the dhamma as commends a mutual critique of both cognitive instruction towards nibbana. They only (post)modern religious pluralism and ancient remind the seeker of the dhamma ’s limited role Theravada Buddhism: as mere cognitive instruction (unalterable though it is) because the realization of the goal It is to be hoped that the recently evolved finally depends on the seeker ’s actual practice ideology of religious pluralism will provide a of it. useful challenge to the ideologies found in classical Buddhism and other traditions coming As Tilakaratne clarifies, “Obviously the into the modern world from the remote past. It is road-map does not produce the destination. equally to be hoped that the classical traditions Nevertheless, it is very important to remember will themselves provide a stimulating challenge that one has to have the road-map until one to the uncritical acceptance of any new reaches the destination. It is only at that ideologies, including that of religious pluralism .11 culminating point that one can get rid of it. Actually, at this point, one naturally loses one ’s Arguably, most religions (including Christianity) interest in it. ”9 Therefore, in Buddhism too, the make some provision for what may loosely be option of making your own path by termed “inclusivism ”. But to profess amalgamating routes from different maps thoroughgoing pluralism is to posit a completely simply does not exist. new religious system altogether. Approaching interfaith dialogue and dual belonging from that Buddhism and religious pluralism basis will predictably evoke the incredulity, even suspicion, of our other-faith neighbours and When I stand within the mainstream of orthodox dialogue partners. Whatever Buddhists feel catholic Christian teaching and profess that the about what some Christians are doing to their cross of Christ is the only solution to the own religion by adopting religious pluralism, fallenness of the human condition and that no they themselves will not accept it as a paradigm other solution is as efficacious as the into which they will willingly allow the Buddha redemptive work of Christ, I am fully conscious dhamma to be integrated. At least in Sri Lanka, of the counter-claim of any knowledgeable the Buddhist position is clear: the Dhamma of Buddhist scholar who will assert with similar the Enlightened One is supremely self- conviction that this claim is properly attributable sufficient. It needs neither supplements nor only to the Buddha and his self-discovered path. complements. 12 This confidence is expressed In his essay Gotama Buddha and Religious by Asanga Tilakaratne writing in the festschrift Pluralism , Richard Hayes closely examines the honouring Fr. Aloysius Pieris on his seventieth oft-repeated claim of the pluralistic openness of birthday : the Buddha ’s teaching (routinely contrasted with the “narrow exclusivism ” of Jesus and/or New A piecemeal kind of adherence to more than Testament writers). He observes that such one religion does not make one a follower of

75 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 any religion. Accepting a religion requires one The Sinhalese are not much given to study... to accept a view of reality unique to that they have no class like that of the Brahmins, particular religion... It is impossible for one to who have a hereditary proclivity for adhere to more than one paradigm philosophical and metaphysical speculation... simultaneously. Speaking in the particular They neither understand nor wish to understand context of Buddhism and Christianity, I do not the contents of other religious systems; and see how one can accept simultaneously the when they speak of themselves as Branches of Buddhist world-view informed by the doctrine of our Society, it is always with this reservation, Dependent Co-origination and that of that they do their best for Buddhism ... 15 Christianity centred around the concept of almighty God. What I think in other words, is Local leaders of the Buddhist revival grew that ‘core-to-core dialogue ’ as envisioned by increasingly suspicious of the generosity and venerable people like Fr. Aloysius Pieris seems syncretism of their Theosophist sympathizers. to be fraught with serious difficulties .13 The once euphoric partnership eventually ruptured in hostility and recrimination. 16 There The point is that any claim to develop multiple is a lesson here. Interfaith dialogue and dual religious belonging on a pluralistic platform is, belonging may seem the most obvious (and to at best, unconvincing to the thought of some, the only acceptable) responses of mainstream Christianity and Buddhism. At Christian liberality towards other faith worst, it could be perceived as a novel form of communities. Well-intentioned though this may western arrogance asserting the paradigmatic be, such overtures will inevitably be perceived superiority of pluralism over Buddhist ultimacy; as the latest ploy of western Christianity to paradoxically reminiscent of colonial missionary undermine Buddhism. 17 Having failed to paternalism. colonize outright, it will be said, the restless agents of Christianity are back; this time on the Sri Lankan Buddhist response gunboat of religious pluralism, demanding soteriological free-trade with self-sufficient It is most interesting that while 19 th century Buddhism. Buddhist cynicism against these evangelical missionaries grew frustrated by interfaith overtures has been fermenting for the pragmatic accommodationism of native many years already. Consequently, they are Ceylonese Buddhists (ever-willing to more respectful of the plain-dealing position of amalgamate Christianity as a superficial their evangelical “foes ” who are more corollary to their existing Buddhist identity, as recognizably representative of mainstream illustrated by the above narrative), the Christianity than of the pluralistic “friends ” converse frustration vexed the Theosophists whose self-conceding relativism is perceived as (the pioneer multiple-belongers). The Buddhist a conciliatory yet unsustainable aberration. So leaders of the post-Panadura period it appears that they would sooner debate with apparently showed no positive interest in other Christians who actually believe in the ultimacy religions. The Old Diary Leaves of Henry of their own faith than dialogue with those who Steele Olcott are strewn with fulminations have somehow conceded that particular self- about the apathy of the Sinhalese towards the understanding. 18 eclectic Theosophical agenda. “That is what makes my work so hard among them, ” he once Inclusive pluralism and constitutive lamented, “all they care for is the intellectual Christology and moral training of their families, ”a reference to the establishment of counter- The impasse of religious pluralism has been missionary Buddhist schools. “[T]he spiritual is acknowledged by many notable Catholic something beyond their grasp. ”14 Elsewhere theologians such as Jacques Dupuis, Claude he vented that, Geffré and Peter Phan who nevertheless

76 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 attribute a salvific role to non-Christian religions. relative disjunction between Christ and the As an alternative they propose an “inclusive Church, but not on that between Christ and pluralism ” paradigm which, they claim, holds Christianity. This is because, as stated at the together both the universality of God ’s salvific beginning, the evangelical confession is that will ( “…who desires all men to be saved and to Christianity is Christ, and that whatever come to the knowledge of the truth ” 1 Tim. 2.4) historical-cultural form the world ’s Christianities and the particularity of God ’s salvific act ( “For have taken and will take in the future are all there is one God and one mediator also equally validated and authenticated on the between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, extent to which they demonstrate commitment who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the to the transforming lordship of Christ, crucified testimony given at the proper time ” vv. 5-6). and risen. Therefore, when Geffré states that “Inclusive pluralism ” is presented as a revised “After twenty centuries, no Christianity in “Christo-centric ” model which affirms both the history can claim to incarnate the essence of irreducibly distinct soteriologies of different Christianity as a religion of the complete and religions and the soteriological uniqueness of definitive revelation of the mystery of God, ”22 Christ as claimed by Christianity. The my evangelical impulse is to ask why an contradiction of this double affirmation finds attempt to reduce (let alone incarnate) such an resolution, these theologians claim, by abstraction as “the essence of Christianity as expanding the “normative Christology ” of official a religion ” was undertaken in the first place. Catholic teaching to a “constitutive Christology ” And, again, when he states that “It is by which will now encompass the wider dynamics insisting on the very paradox of the incarnation, previously performed by the theo-centrism of that is, the union of the absolutely universal and the classic pluralist model. Here there is a fall- the absolutely concrete, that one is in a position back on the patristic “Logos ” Christology which to de -absolutize Christianity as a historic postulates the revelatory “seeds ” and “shafts of religion and to verify its dialogical nature, ”23 I light ” of pre-Christian philosophies. The am impelled to point out that this paradox declared motive behind the “inclusive pluralism ’ would lead one to “de -absolutize Christianity as alternative is to give the proposed salvific role of a historic religion ” only because one has other faiths a better grounding in established constructively dismissed the “strong Roman Catholic theology. Its conclusion: that it expression ” of Colossians 2.6 (that “the fullness was God ’s intention from the beginning that of the divinity dwelled in him, bodily ”), as Geffré there should be multiple paths to salvation, does, with the non sequitur that “this although those paths were all “expressions of identification itself sends us back to the the Spirit of Christ ever at work in history and in inaccessible mystery of God who eludes all human hearts ” which were not exhausted by the identification. ”24 If all that the incarnation Incarnation. 19 ultimately signifies is that God is “inaccessibly mystery ” and “eludes all identification ” what In addition to an exegetical problem involving was the point of it anyway? Rather, is not the the patristic interpretation of the Johannine paradox of the incarnation quite the opposite: Prologue to which the “logos spermatikos ” that although God is indeed mystery and theory is attached, 20 the difficulties inherent in eludes all (human attempts at) identification, he the “constitutive Christology ” modification arise nevertheless made himself known to us in the as soon as the respective roles of “Christ ”, “ the particularly encultured humanity of Jesus of Church ” and “Christianity ” begin to be Nazareth? Indeed, Christ ’s very cultural delineated. For instance, when Geffré cautions particularity is universal paradigmatically (just against the “logic of absolutization ” which as Israel ’s was meant to be for the other places “the universality of Christ on the same nations). 25 By demonstrating how He lived in plane as that of the Church or Christianity ”21 my the relative context of his own culture , Christ evangelical response would be to agree on the modeled how his disciples must live in the

77 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 diverse contexts of their own cultures as they religious universe in a way that the leaven of the enter into deeper relationship with him and do gospel gives rise to a new historical image and his will. form of Christianity [i.e. specific to the context of that Asian culture ]. 26 So, this then is the question: What does it mean to be Christian in a Buddhist context? To answer New Testament examples may be ethically it, we first need to clarify some confusions. illustrative here. We may see Peter ’s refusal to continue table fellowship with the Antiochene Gentiles as a “cultural ” choice (to accommodate III. Some clarifications the strong sensibilities of the Judaizers), since eating a communal meal is not strictly a 1. The syncretism bugaboo “religious ” activity for us. Yet Paul rebukes Peter ’s hypocrisy as a ‘spiritual ’ violation ( “not The religion/culture distinction which underlies acting in line with the truth of the gospel, ” Gal. the syncretism/contextualization (or 2.14). For us, Peter ’s choice was “contextual ”, inculturation) disjunction is not always helpful though Paul rebukes it as “syncretistic ”. On the for discerning what authentic faith and practice other hand, Paul attributes to the “Unknown looks like in a new situation. As has been often God ” (Acts 17.23) descriptions that explicitly stated, although “religion ” and “culture ” may be refer to the pagan god Zeus. 27 This would be for said to exist as spheres, their complex interplay us “syncretistic ” as the quotations are clearly makes it virtually impossible to extricate one from pagan religious hymns, but for Paul it was from another. Perhaps it would be easier to talk “contextual ” (“ some of your own poets have about “worldviews ” (internal perceptions) and said, ” Acts 17.28) because the theological “lifeways ” (external behaviours); and state that statements were true, regardless of its original conversion transforms both. Certainly, one ’s usage, when attributed to the One he was now worldview itself may determine what is proclaiming. The point is that “spiritual ” or “religious ” or “cultural ”. Secular people who “cultural ”, they are both legitimate resources if have no religious commitment will still want to they can be unambiguously re-oriented towards have a church wedding, circumcise or baptize the worship of Christ and the service of his their children, celebrate Thanksgiving and kingdom. Just as missionary anthropologist Christmas simply as cultural activities with no Paul Hiebert called for “critical religious intentions at all. Whereas in a contextualization ” in the gospel ’s engagement premodern society this would simply be with culture, 28 so there must also be “critical inconceivable and routine practices such as syncretism ” in its engagement with religions. opening shop, starting a bus journey, bathing, eating, exercise or taking medicine will be 2. The image problem couched in some spiritual signification. Geffré states that: When contemplating our Christian self- understanding in relation to Buddhism we face …[E]specially in Asia, Christianity is confronted the double dangers of conformity and rejection. with a complex whole in which the cultural and On one hand, we can become so self-conscious the religious elements are inextricably and apologetic about our Christian “otherness ” intertwined. One should thus avoid the illusion vis-à-vis the Buddhist community that our that it would be possible to make a clear identity becomes a liability, even a source of distinction between the cultural values that self-loathing. Some Christians feel compelled to might be kept and the specifically religious erase any outward marks of Christianity that elements that would need to be discarded. The might possibly cause offence, and conform to work of Aufhebung (destruction-assumption) Buddhist conventions so as to seek inclusion must manifest itself with regard to this cultural- and approval by the majority community. On the

78 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 other hand, we can become so self-conscious number of choices (e .g. Native American and assertive of our “otherness ” that we try at spirituality, , , -centered every opportunity to contrast ourselves by Hindu movements, , etc.). Asian reflexively rejecting anything associated with Christians have a different historical and Buddhism. Both these tendencies are cultural experience of Buddhism, often more reactionary and false to our true identity. There ambivalent than that of Westerners who are, is an intrinsic difference about authentic arguably, exposed to a type of “therapeutic ” discipleship that can neither be hidden nor Buddhism. Westerners are also exposed to brandished. The metaphors of salt and light many more varieties of Buddhism while their (Matt. 5.13-16) are often misinterpreted by Asian counterparts are typically acquainted those who argue that Christian identity must with one dominant local form. What must be necessarily be dissolved and diffused in order to emphasized is that Asian Christians must work enhance the condition of their contexts. The out their own response to the Buddhist realities plain intent of the metaphors is quite the around them without feeling in any way opposite, for it calls for the perseverance of its pressured to conform to Western demonstrative qualities: “if the salt loses its interpretations of it experienced elsewhere. saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is Otherwise, we are back to square one; not only no longer good for anything… In the same way, having been taught by the West how to be let your light shine before men, that they may Christian, but now, also to be taught how to be see your good deeds and praise your Father in Christian in relation to Buddhism! Similarly, heaven ”, vv. 13, 16). We must be true to who Western explorations of Buddhism (with its we are (identity), if we are to be useful to others application of Christian and other insights) (mission). However, as we are soberly must continue on its own path, and continue to forewarned, to some we will be “the fragrance of yield fresh scholarly, devotional and ethical life, ” but to others who have it on their agenda results. The difference of perspective to deny us any acknowledgement no matter engendered by these two experiences within what we do, we will always be “the smell of the global Christian community can potentially death ” (2 Cor. 2.16). This is because the Cross be most instructive, sobering and encouraging. of Christ is intrinsically a “stumbling block ” to all religions and ideologies which encounter its 4. The light of Logos Christology “intolerant ” and “incoherent ” claims (cf. 1 Cor. 1.23). To attempt to erase that offensiveness is As mentioned earlier, some clarification is to miss the point entirely. Therefore, learning to required about “Logos Christology ”. The text that obey and worship Christ in contextually “There was the true light which, coming into the meaningful ways must never be done in order to world, enlightens every man ” or “There was the seek the approval or permission of those who true light which enlightens every person coming resent our distinctiveness. It must be done for into the world ” (John 1.9) has often been the sake of our own integrity as contextualized interpreted to mean that in some mysterious disciples, regardless of whether the self- way, the pre-incarnate Christ has been imparting appointed “authorities ” of our cultural-religious salvific wisdom to every human being; and milieu endorse us or not. furthermore, has been doing this through non- Christian religions and philosophies through the 3. The question of authenticity ages in all cultures. This was certainly the interpretation of the early Christian apologists Generally speaking, Western Christians and Justin and Clement of Alexandra. But this Asian Christians have different experiences of interpretation is more influenced by the Buddhism in its many forms. For Western Hellenistic concept of logos spermatikos (the Christians seeking a spiritual supplement or ‘seed ’ of salvific wisdom) of Middle Platonism alternative, Buddhism is one among a growing than a close reading of the Fourth Evangelist.

79 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

The key question is: In what way does the text of God ’s reconciliation in Christ, they will readily mean that the Light “enlightens ” everyone? The recognize that he alone has always been the word phôtizei could mean “to shed light upon ” true source of their goodness, and seek refuge (its primary lexical sense) or “to illuminate in his grace (cf. 18.37b). inwardly ” (a secondary derivative meaning), or even, as John is wont to do, both senses IV. Theological Reflections together. As with all the other themes introduced in the Johannine Prologue that are further Having cleared the ground of the more pesky expanded in the subsequent narrative, the issues that obstruct our task, we may now seek theme of “the true Light ” is picked up again in to build a biblical basis that can nurture and John 3.19-21, where the specific Johannine sustain our theological exploration. nuance of “enlightens ” is helpfully elucidated: 1. What is “salvific ” for God? This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather The inner response of any human being than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For desirous of receiving God ’s salvation is everyone who does evil hates the Light, and repentant faith in God ’s grace. This disposition does not come to the Light for fear that his of repentant self-surrender to the justice and deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the mercy of God is authenticated by a life of faithful truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may loyalty to him and the extension of that same be manifested as having been wrought in God. justice and mercy towards one ’s fellow creatures. This “salvific ” disposition is In the context of Johannine Christology, the consistently revealed in both Testaments as stated action of the light on persons is that their God ’s basic requirement (eg. Gen. 15.6; 18.25; deeds are “exposed ” (Gk. elengchthe ) and Deut. 23.7; Ps. 51; Prov . 12.10; 1 Sam. 15.22; “manifested ” ( phanerôthei ), demonstrating the Mic. 6.8; Jer. 22.16; Matt. 5.1-12; 7.21-23; primary sense of “shedding light upon ” rather 18.23-35; Rom . 2.1-16, 26-29; 1 Cor. . 13.1-3; 1 than some sort of inner spiritual or intellectual John 3.17; 4.20; James 1.27, etc). Concluding enlightenment. This leads to the further his incisive critique of the pluralistic theologies question: Who is the one “who practices the of three major fellow Asian theologians, Vinoth truth ” (an apparent semitism for “acting Ramachandra lays bare this simple truth, which faithfully ” or “honourably ”)? The decisive role of turns our conventional grandiose sentiments Christ in the existential human engagement with about world religions on its head. good and evil is the exposing of the human heart. As they are encountered by God ’s The cross… tells us that it is not the “good provision of Christ, both the wicked and the Christian ” or the “sincere Hindu ” or the “devout righteous may (in the derivative sense of “inner Buddhist ” or the “men and women of good will ” enlightenment ” now), awaken to the innermost who are assured places in the kingdom of God. true motivations of their lives. What has our But, rather, that it is the bad Christian, the bad spirituality, religiosity, morality and Hindu, the bad Buddhist – those who know humanitarianism really been about? Have they themselves to be moral failures, that they have been tragic forms of self-centeredness? To the fallen hopelessly short of the kind of life they genuine “practitioner of truth ” Christ would know (in their better moments) they should be make perfect sense. For those who are living – it is these who are closer to the kingdom penitently aware of their own moral inadequacy of God. This can be so precisely because before a righteous God will never cease to act salvation is through grace, mediated in the righteously and sink into despair and cynicism. cross of Christ, received by faith. From the Rather, they will strive the harder to please God perspective of the cross, then, it appears that more truthfully. And when they hear the gospel there are only two kinds of human being: those

80 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 who, accepting their wretchedness, lift their conditioned existence is, from the Christian eyes to God for mercy; and those who, seeking point of view, to deny the full import of to establish their own identity, spurn God ’s anatta …Christianity can take the meaning of mercy and look down on others (cf. Luke 18.9- anatta in all its seriousness denying any form of 14). True humanness, as Irenaeus reminded us, intrinsic power in man – be it karmic force, is salvation, and it can be received only as gift .29 power of mind or vinnana or continuing memory – by which man can save himself .30 What Ramachandra has done here is to simply apply universally the contrastive attitudes of The Gospel takes self-denial to the truest extent religious self-understanding (exemplified by the because it looks to God ’s gracious mercy rather Tax Collector and Pharisee) which existed in the than to the self at the critical moment of Palestinian milieu of Jesus ’ day. The relevance liberation. of this story to human salvation is denoted by Jesus ’ pronouncement: “I tell you, this man 2. Why is Christ ‘central ’? went to his house justified ” (Gk. dedikaiômenos ; from dikaiô , righteous) – an almost-technical Without rehearsing the entire biblical theology term for salvation. of salvation here, it may be pertinent simply to attend some aspects of it that are directly To the extent that a religious tradition presents relevant to the discussion of other faiths. The God as holy, just, caring for his creatures and place of Christ in Christian soteriology can worthy of our worship; to the extent that it lays hardly be understood outside the biblical bare our sheer moral self-inadequacy; to the narrative. Christ is central to salvation history extent that it urges us to place our hope and because he spans the entirety of history from yearning for forgiveness and acceptance in a beginning to end. He is the giver of all life at righteousness and gracious God; to the extent creation and its sanctifier at the consummation. that it fosters confidence that such a God will The incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection are decisively intervene to defeat evil and its painful meaningful only in connection to the entire manifestations; and to the extent that it exhorts biblical narrative of the earth, humankind, Israel us to reverently and responsively imitate God ’s and the nations. Salvation is about righteousness and mercy in our dealings with understanding our humanness in a particular one another and the world around us, that way – the way shaped by the biblical narrative. tradition may, as best as we can understand We are God ’s creatures, his children, we are from the Bible, be said to lead us on the path broken by our autonomous disparagement of on which salvation comes to us (cf. Luke 15.18- our relationship with God, we need to be 20; Acts 17.27). To the extent that a religious healed. Jesus comes not only to teach us to be tradition (even some forms of “Christianity ”) that better persons, but to begin healing our moves us in an opposite direction, again brokenness on a deeper level, a level we have according to what we learn from the Bible, may no control over, let alone an understanding. be said to lead us farther into idolatry, Christ ’s redemptive work on the cross is destruction and alienation from God. properly called “mystery ” not because its salvific achievement is incomprehensible, but because In relation to Buddhism, Lynn de Silva observed its totality cannot be reduced to a definitive that the doctrine of anatta must necessarily lead formula by exhaustively interpreting its to dependence on God rather than to self-effort. aspectival and analogical images. Incidentally, the plurality of these soteriological metaphors For, Buddhism while it denies the soul, affirms has been one reason why the cross-cultural that man has an intrinsic power by which he can transmission of the Gospel is possible. save himself. To assert that man has within Consequently, it is also the reason why new himself an intrinsic power to transcend Christologies are possible from within the

81 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 conceptual frameworks of all human cultures. 16). Paul here recognizes the external “traditions ” in Gentile cultures (Col. 2.8; 20-22) But the Bible never gives any indication that as the ethical counterpart to the function of the intermediate salvific interventions have been in Israel ’s context. made through other religious traditions. Universal redemption is promised and longingly Secondly, personification of the “basic awaited. The theme of God ’s waiting for the principles ” as “guardians ” ( epitropoi ) and right time in universal history, the waiting of his “managers ” ( oikonomoi ) (Gal. 4.2), parallel to people, the waiting of the nations, and the the Torah ’s role as Israel ’s “supervisory waiting of reation itself for God to act guardian ” ( paidagôgos , Gal. 3.24-25), is a redemptively pervades the Bible (eg. Ps. 22.27- relatively constructive assessment. The “basic 28; 130; Isa. 51.1-6; 64.4; Zeph. 3.7-10; Mal. principles ” are therefore seen to have exercised 3.1; Luke 2.25; Rom. 8.22; 16.25-27; Eph. 1.9- a custodial function over human societies: 10; 3.4-11; Col. 1.26-27, etc.). The notion that positively, by inculcating ethical virtue, spiritual God has made “salvific ” provisions independent piety, existential wisdom, and community of his covenant mediation with Israel is simply bonding; and negatively, by restraining, to an absent. Furthermore, the salvation of the extent, humanity ’s propensity for collective evil. nations is never anticipated independently of Israel ’s own salvation. The nations are always Thirdly, there is a contingent providentiality envisaged as being united with the faithful about these roles. The nations are said to have remnant of Israel in their redemption (eg. Ps. been “held in bondage under ” the “basic 67.1-3; 102; Isa. 2; 19.20-25; 56; 60; Zech. principles ” (4.3), as Israel was “under the Torah ” 2.10-11; John 10.16; Rom. 11, Gal. 3.27-29, (v. 5), “until the date set by the father ” (v. 2). Eph. 2. 11-13, etc.). Within this allegory, the work of the many “guardians and managers ” makes sense only in 3. Did God “provide ” other faith traditions? relation to the purpose that the father has for the children. Yet the role of the “basic principles ” The clearest biblical teaching on the role of is never implied to be independently “salvific ”. other spiritual/religious traditions in salvation They are “moralistic ”. It is here that the history may be found in Gal. 4. 8-9 and Col. 2.8, ambivalence of Paul ’s characterization of the 20-23. The term Paul uses for these traditions is “basic principles ” makes sense. ta stoicheia tou kosmou (lit. “the basic elements or principles of the world ”), a term which Fourthly, it is only in relation to the full freedom evidently encompassed pagan -veneration, and inheritance of mature sonship that Christ ascetic ethics and the spirituality that held them brings that the “basic principles ” are called together. In both epistles Paul addresses “weak and poor ” (v. 9), just as the Torah would Christians of Jewish and other ethno-religious be found to be “weak ” (Rom. 8.3) if one misused backgrounds who sought to supplement their it as a tool for self-liberation. Indeed, such an salvation in Christ by re-submitting to codes of attempt would be a pitiful self-enslavement spiritual veneration and ascetic discipline as (Gal. 4.9; Col. 2.23). Is it not interesting that the salvific practices (cf. Col. 2.20-23). Several Buddha too rejected the “basic principles ” of insights may be gained from the apostolic dependence on devas () and extreme teaching that follows. asceticism as paths to nibbana as part of his own “basic principles ”? Firstly, the “basic principles ” functioned among the nations in a comparable (yet not identical) 31 The “guardian ”/” father ” inter-relationship is manner as the Torah did within Israel. This goes directly relevant to Christian self-understanding beyond the affirmation of mere individual in response to the emotive Buddhist accusation “conscience ” in the Gentile context (Rom. 2.14- that Sinhalese who convert to Christianity are

82 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 thereby “forgetting mother and father ” (i.e. their For genuine conversion is not an abandonment native Buddhist patrimony). In traditional story of one identity for another, but the radical re- motif, young princes entrusted to the temporary orientation of the original identity towards Christ. tutelage of renowned sage learn to honour and The examples cited by Paul, of care for their guru piyano (lit. teacher-father) as circumcision/uncircumcision (ethno-religious their own father. Once they have completed belonging), slave/free citizen (socio-political their education, the princes are gloriously status) and married/single (family situation), are reunited with their true raja piyano (lit. king- all equally valid identities. The critical factor is father) who embraces them back into the royal the intra-identity transformation that must take household, assigning them their duties and place with Christ as its new centre (cf. Gal. 5.6; privileges. The prince never loses his esteem Col. 3.8-12). This is a radically new Christ- and gratitude for his guru piyano ; neither is he centred way of being what one has always confused about whose son he really is. been. This is why Christianity infuses Likewise, those of us who have been blessed indigenous cultures and languages rather than with a Buddhist heritage and understand in replacing them with sacred languages, dress retrospect that it was God who placed the codes, dietary laws and normative philosophical culture of our ancestors under its formative templates. 33 “basic principles ”, will never despise or disparage its exceptionally rich ethical, cultural But what about religious identity? Is intra- and intellectual endowment. If the Greek and identity conversion possible in terms of a Latin Fathers could express gratitude to God for person ’s religious affiliation? In other words, if the wealth of their pagan heritage, 32 Christians one can be a Sinhalese or Tamil Christianly , can of Buddhist culture can celebrate with at least one also be a Buddhist Christianly ? This is as much enthusiasm. For surely, the discerning possible because of what Geffré calls “the enjoyment of the wealth of Buddhism is part of originality of Christianity as a religion. ”34 As he the “all things ” for which Christ has matured and helpfully reminds us, entitled us (cf. Gal.4.1, 7). …Jesus did not found a new religion, if by 4. What does it mean to be “Christian ”? religion we mean a system of doctrinal propositions, symbolic representations, a whole The NT understanding of conversion has of rituals, a catalogue of prescriptions, and a always presented a challenge to the cross- program of determined behavior. Christian life cultural missionary experience of the church. is not determined a priori. It exists wherever the The challenge for the Jewish Christians Spirit of Christ gives birth to a new being in the among the Greeks was “Must one be a in individual and collective person .35 order to be a Christian? ” The challenge for Bonhoeffer among the secular moderns was For genuine conversion to take place, a “Must one become religious in order to person ’s initial religious worldview and practices become a Christian? ” The challenge for must be taken very seriously. For former Panikkar in the Indian milieu was “Must one worldview conceptions do not simply disappear be spiritually a Semite and intellectually a upon formal conversion. If they are not Greek to be a Christian? ” Paul ’s answer to the meaningfully reinterpreted, former beliefs will Corinthians was emphatic: “[A]s the Lord has subsist in an unintegrated and assigned to each one, as God has called compartmentalized form that is not conducive each, in this manner let him walk…Each man to a holistic way of life. That is what constitutes must remain in that condition in which he was bad syncretism. To help fellow American called…each one is to remain with God in that converts assimilate their new Buddhist condition in which he was called ” (1 Cor. 7.17, worldview scholar Clark Strand reportedly 20, 24). “leads a Buddhist Bible Study group in

83 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

Woodstock, where converts re-read the Bible of biblical spirituality. Again, Geffré explains this their childhood – this time through Buddhist instrumental relating of traditions well: eyes. ”36 Likewise, re-reading familiar Buddhist religious-cultural ‘texts ’ (literary and otherwise) The originality of Christian salvation in Jesus from a biblical perspective will be an ideal way Christ must be shown as liberation from sin and to integrate a well situated Christian worldview. death and especially as gift of eternal life which Some practical implications of the process of has already begun. But at the same time, a being Buddhist Christianly are suggested greater familiarity with the other religious below. traditions, especially those of the East, put us on our guard against a conception too 5. Can a Christian “add on ” another faith exclusively polarized on salvation as liberation tradition? from sin. In terms of the confused expectation of our contemporaries, it is important to spell out It is one thing to critically integrate the religious better all the virtualities of Christian salvation, element of one ’s pre-Christian background in not only as reconciliation with God, but as the process of conversion and discipleship. But healing of the affliction of the human condition can the voluntary “adoption ” of a subsequent and as life wisdom, that is, as reconciliation with religious identity be an authentic option for a oneself and with all creation. Christian? In his examination of the rise of Neo- paganism in Europe in recent years, Christian In short, the point is not to complete the philosopher and environmental activist Loren Christian message with positive elements Wilkinson came to the conclusion that displayed by other religious traditions but to Neo-paganism…is an attempt to recover an open oneself up to a mutual fertilization that aspect of being human that is central to the leads to a better deciphering of the resources gospel but is often obscured—that is, we cannot hidden in the revelation that has been be fully human until our restored relationship gratuitously entrusted to us by God .38 with the Creator results in a restored relationship not only with other men and women V. Conclusion: The Need for Mindfulness but also with the rest of creation, which is seen and accepted as a divine gift .37 So, yes, it is possible from an evangelical perspective to endorse the proposition of “dual This acknowledgement is helpful for addressing belonging ” because that is what genuine our question about the possibility of “adopting ” conversion and discipleship must be anyway. In Buddhism in the service of recovering a fuller, fact, truly integrative dual belonging can only more holistically biblical spirituality in the West. take place within an evangelical conviction that Western Christianity has suffered successive the centrality and ultimacy of Christ makes the reductionisms at the hands of Scholaticism, reconciliation of all things possible. Yet honest , Liberalism and caution is required. Close attention to the which have bled the ancient Spirit-filled faith of spiritual narratives of dual belongers reveals its earthy vitality and cultural expression. It is that difficulties of achieving parity between two quite understandable therefore that the spiritual traditions is not confined to their cognitive and aesthetic hunger created by the pseudo- “coinherence ” (as coined by Roger Corless) but, humanism of secular modernity will make perhaps more so, to the very experiential seekers look outside the western tradition, harmony that they set out to seek in the first including the anaemic Christianity with which it place. One system of belief will inevitably is closely associated. Therefore, certain insights emerge as the integrative matrix over time. As and practices of Buddhist philosophy and Gideon Goosen insightfully observes: spirituality may well be ways of recovering the The psychology of conversion showed us that creational interconnectedness which suffuses the process of integration followed by

84 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009 disintegration ad then a new integration is I do not agree with some of Knitter’s normal in human development. There is an interpretations of Christian and Buddhist ideas, inbuilt human need to integrate after a stage of I do discern an authentic voice in his narrative. change, growth and disintegration. This applies Towards the end of his narrative Knitter explains to intellectual pursuits in general as well as to what he means by the book ’s title, Without the religious beliefs. I believe that Corless is fighting Buddha I Cannot be a Christian , with which I that inbuilt need to keep his two commitments to wish to conclude: Christianity and Buddhism equal and separate. This could be the source of his confusion and As I believe this book makes clear, my core extreme tension, and the reason why this identity as a Christian has been profoundly category is not common. 39 influenced by my passing over to Buddhism. Even though my primary allegiance is to Christ It is therefore imperative that disciples and the gospel, my Christian experience and espousing dual belonging be mindful of their beliefs have not dominated nor always had to cognitive, affective and conative processes of trump what I learned or experienced through spiritual-ethical formation. In his much Buddha. There have been many instances in anticipated spiritual autobiography Paul Knitter this book where I have recognized, often with works out for himself the inter-relationship great relief, that Buddhism can offer us between the Buddhist and Christian elements Christians a deeper insight, a clearer truth. And of his religious identity over the years. Although yet, at the end of the day, I go home to Jesus. 40

1 Christianity in Ceylon London: John Murray, 1850; Reprint: New Delhi: Asian Education Service, 1998, pp.240-41 (original italicization). See also the preceding extract from Methodist missionary scholar Rev. D.J. Gogerly entitled ‘Theory which reconciles the Buddhists to profess two religions’ (240). 2 For a recent evangelical response helpfully outlining the main issues raised by ‘dual belonging’ please read Kang-San Tan, ‘Dual Belonging: A Missiological Critique and Appreciation from an Asian Evangelical Perspective,’ Mission Studies , 27 (2010), 1-15. I am very grateful to Dr. Tan for providing me his article. 3 Bebbington uses the term “Conversionism” to describe this evangelical hallmark. David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s ,London: Unwin Hyman, 1989, pp. 2-17. 4 See the critiques of polycentric pluralism as argued by Roger Corless and Process Theology in Rose Drew, An Exploration of Buddhist Christian Dual Belonging (Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2008), pp.47-55. I am extremely grateful to Dr. Rose Drew for making this document available to me. 5 For Hick’s reservations see Drew, An Exploration , pp. 167-68 (emphasis added). 6 What then is the difference between this choice of religious practice and that of millions of South Asians, say, who routinely observe an admixture of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and ? The difference is precisely one of self-identity. One confessionally ‘belongs’ only to one faith community, even though in practice one might ‘reach into’ (if not “passing over and passing back to” in Dunne’s sense) the beliefs and rituals of other traditions. Still, such are always open to the periodic correction of each tradition’s reformers and revivalists who have only to re-present the tradition’s orthodoxy and by appealing to its authoritative sources. This is the positive function of fundamentalism without which genuine diversity may not survive over the long term. 7 See Jaroslav Pelikan, The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700) , Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 1974, pp. 31, 265. 8 Quoted in Asanga Tilakaratne, Nirvana and Ineffability: A Study of the Buddhist Theory of Reality and Language , Kelaniya: The Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, 1993, p. 95. 9 Tilakaratne, Nirvana and Ineffability , 102 (86-108). 10 Richard P. Hayes, ‘Gotama Buddha and Religious Pluralism’, Journal of Religious Pluralism , 1 (1991),p. 96. 11 Ibid.

85 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

12 Even in the period of Buddhist “openness ” to Christianity in early 19th century Ceylon (well documented by Elizabeth Harris, ‘Double Belonging in Sri Lanka: Illusion or Liberating Path?’ in Catherine Cornille (ed.), Many Mansions: Multiple Religious Belonging and Christian Identity , Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002 , pp. 76-92), the accommodation was clearly conditional: “If, therefore, the supremacy of Buddhu ( sic .) and the absolute perfection of his system were conceded, they saw nothing inconsistent in respecting both systems, – Buddhism as the perfection of wisdom and virtue; Christianity as an approximation to it, though mingled with many errors” (See fn. 1, above). 13 Asanga Tilakaratne, ‘Aloysius Pieris s.j. on ‘Inter-religious Dialogue and the Problem of Truth in Religion: A Buddhist Perspective’, Encounters with the Word , eds. Robert Cruz, Marshal Fernando, Asanga Tilakaratne, Colombo: Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, 2004, pp. 395-6. Tilakaratne is assistant editor of Dialogue and currently Professor of Pali and Buddhist Studies at the University of Colombo. 14 Henry Steele Olcott, Old Diary Leaves , Vol. IV, (Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1931), 175. 15 Ibid, 216-17. 16 See Kitsiri Malalgoda, Buddhism in Sinhalese Society 1750-1900 , Berkley: University of California Press, 1976 , pp. 250-55; and Susantha Goonatilake, ‘Panadura Vaadaya and Its Consequences: Mischievous Association with Fundamentalism,’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka , NS Vol. XLIX (2004), pp. 98-101. 17 These sentiments are characteristically expressed by Kamalika Pieris, a lay Buddhist and regular commentator on Buddhist-Christian issues in Sri Lanka: “...[I]t has been suggested that [there is] an attempt to metamorphose Christianity into a quasi Buddhist appearance by using orange robes and Buddhist ‘ideas’. This, it is suggested is intended to blur the distinction between Christianity and Buddhism, so that a person could be persuaded to move from one to the other without much trauma. There is now an attempt to present Christ as an Asian, on the ground that he was born in West Asia. The Pope [John Paul II] stated in India that Jesus Christ, took flesh as an Asian. This is to make Christianity acceptable to the Asians. The emphasis on inter-religious dialogue is also a part of this transition. Dialogue is fast becoming the common mode of action for the Asian church. It was useful for transmitting the message.” ‘Christian conversion in Buddhist Sri Lanka’ (newspaper article), The Island , March 8, 2000. 18 The above cited article (fn.7) by Susantha Goonatilake concludes with the call, “...[O]pen and public debates like the Panadura Vaadaya should now be restarted.” (109). Similarly, Kamalika Pieris proposes that “The second Panadura Vaadaya will have to return to the theme of the first Panadura Vaadaya – Christian conversions. It will have to examine the place of Christianity in the modern world.” ‘The Need for a Second Panadura Vaadaya: Buddhism as ’, Lankaweb , 19/04/2005, http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items05/190405-3.html (accessed 24/06/2010). 19 Claude Geffré, O.P., ‘From the Theology of Religious Pluralism to an Interreligious Theology’ in Daniel Kendall and Gerald O’Collins (eds.), In Many and Diverse Ways: In Honour of Jacques Dupuis , Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003, p. 54. 20 See section III.4 (below). 21 Geffré, ‘From the Theology of Religious Pluralism to…,’ 53. 22 Ibid, 54. 23 Ibid, 53-54. 24 Ibid, 53. 25 See Christopher J.H. Wright, Ethics for the People of God , Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004 , pp. 52-68. 26 ‘Double Belonging and the Originality of Christianity as a Religion’ in Cornille (ed.), Many Mansions , 98. 27 Minos addressing Zeus declares, “ For in thee we live and move and have our being” (Epimenides, Cretica ); “ Let us begin with Zeus, whom we mortals never leave unspoken./For every street, every market- place is full of Zeus./Even the sea and the harbour are full of this deity./Everywhere everyone is indebted to Zeus./For we are indeed his offspring...” (Aratus, Phaenomena 1-5 ). 28 ‘Critical Contextualization,’ Missiology 12 (July 1984), pp. 287-96. 29 Recovery of Mission: Beyond the Pluralist Paradigm , Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1996 , p. 267. 30 ‘Anatta and God’, Dialogue (NS), Vol. 2. No. 3 (Nov-Dec 1975), p. 108. 31 As the gift of divine revelation the Torah was intrinsically superior to the traditions of the Gentiles in Paul’s thought (cf. Rom . 2.20; 3.31; 7.7, 12; 9.4).

86 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism Prabo Mihindukulasuriya Colombo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December, 2009

32 For the assessments of Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Augustine of their own philosophical tradition, see Alister E. McGrath (ed.), The Christian Theology Reader , Oxford: Blackwell, 1995 , pp. 4-6. 33 In Sri Lanka, Christians are the only community that can celebrate their entire religious service in Sinhala or Tamil without the use of a foreign language. 34 ‘Double Belonging and the Originality of Christianity as a Religion’ , 102. 35 Ibid. 36 Stuart Laidlaw, ‘Awaiting the ’ (newspaper article), Toronto Sun , October 28, 2007. 37 In John G. Stackhouse (ed.), What Does It Mean to be Saved: Broadening Evangelical Horizons of Salvation , Baker Academic, 2002 , p. 154. 38 ‘From the Theology of Religious Pluralism to …’, 57. 39 ‘Towards a Theory of Dual Belonging’ in John O’Grady and Peter Scherle (eds) Ecumenics from the Rim: Explorations in honour of John D’Arcy May, Berlin LIT Verlag, 2007, p. 244. 40 Paul F. Knitter, Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian, Oxford: One World, 2009, p.215. I am very grateful to Dr Shanta Premawardena for introducing me to this book .

Prabo Mihindukulasuriya studied theology at Regent College, Vancouver. He teaches bibli - cal studies, theology, ethics and history at Colombo Theological Seminary in Sri Lanka. He is a lay preacher in his local parish church St. Paul’s, Milagiriya, and serves on the Joint Theological Commission of the Anglican Dioceses of Colombo and Kurunegala.

87 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism David Eckel Columbo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December 2009

“Show Me Your Resurrection ”

Prof. David Eckel

The following essay was initially prepared for a now well known among historians of religion recent symposium at Boston College on “Inter- that the story of Josaphat is the result of Religious Hermeneutics ” (September 25-27, complex, multi-stage process of religious 2009). In this essay I have commented on a borrowing. The Greek (and Russian) tradition distinctive cross-cultural challenge: how to received it from the Georgians ( “the Christian preach the gospel while being informed by the nation of the East ”), who received it from an Buddhist tradition. This is a challenge that I face Arabic source. The Arab tradition had received as a scholar of Buddhism and a Christian priest it from Manichees in Central Asia, and the whenever I enter the pulpit in my Boston Manichees had received it from Buddhist congregation. I hope these observations will be monks. As the story traveled across cultures helpful to our discussion in Colombo. You will and the saint ’s name was transcribed from one see that I have worked mainly within the script to another, the original “ ” tradition of Mah āyāna philosophy, leading from became “Bodisaf ” (Manichee), “Yudasaf ” Nāgārjuna to Zen. In my introductory remarks at (Arabic), “Iodasaph ” (Georgian), and finally our own consultation in Colombo, I will relate “Ioasaph ” (Greek) and “Josaphat ” (Latin). this essay more explicitly to the Therav āda Tolstoy ’s saint was a Russian version of an Arab Buddhist concerns that I imagine will be the version of a Manichean version of the major focus of our discussion. bodhisattva , or future Buddha. To borrow the words of this symposium, Tolstoy was engaging In one of his last sustained reflections on the in a complex act of inter-religious hermeneutics. relationship of theology and comparative He was interpreting the life story of the Buddha religion, Wilfred Cantwell Smith tells a story by putting it into action, without having any about cross-cultural religious influence. The reason to know that it originated in a tradition story begins with the figure of Leo Tolstoy, very different from his own. aspiring to leave his life as member of the landed gentry and take up the life of a The story gets even more complicated when it wandering ascetic. Tolstoy said goodbye to his enters the next stage of its development. After family and friends with the understanding that he finished his education in England, Mohandas he had make a radical turn toward an ascetic Gandhi went to South Africa to practice as a ideal. Sadly for Tolstoy and perhaps also for us, lawyer. When he experienced the ethnic and he made it only as far as the platform in the racial discrimination of South African society, he local railway station before passing away. Smith began to develop new strategies for social and points out that Tolstoy ’s decision was not an political action. One of his strategies was to isolated act by an old man who had grown create an ascetical community named Tolstoy weary of life. 1 It was related to an ascetical Farm, modeled on the principled asceticism that model in Russian Christianity that Tolstoy knew Gandhi so much admired in Tolstoy ’s writings. well and had come to admire. This model was This ascetical ideal translated naturally into the based on the life of a saint whose name in the next phase of Gandhi ’s work, when he returned Western tradition is Josaphat. According to the to India and applied the political strategy that he legend, Josaphat gave up his life as a prince, called satyagraha , often translated as “passive became a wandering mendicant, and achieved resistance ” or simply “truth-force. ” Could it be recognition as a saint. Tolstoy was aware of his that Gandhi understood the significance of impending death and wanted to prepare for it in Tolstoy ’s ideal because he had a visceral the style of Josaphat. Who was Josaphat? It is understanding of its origin in India? Certainly it

88 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism David Eckel Columbo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December 2009 involved an idiom of ascetical practice that was “Buddhist, ” “ Christian, ” or “Jew ” meeting one immediately recognizable to his Indian another to understand, appreciate, and contemporaries: it was modern, engaged, and negotiate their differences has given way to a strongly political, and yet it was rooted in one of situation of fluidity, multiplicity, indeterminacy, the most ancient narrative patterns of the Indian and change in which each tradition has become tradition. The future-Buddha had returned to his deeply familiar to the other, while at the same homeland in the guise of an ascetical, dhoti- time becoming a stranger to itself. clad, British-educated political activist. And this, too, is just a stage in the process of cross- A few years ago I pictured the stages of inter- cultural religious interpretation. Martin Luther religious dialogue by using the comparison of a King, Jr. blended Gandhi ’s model of passive play. The first stage is like a snapshot of an resistance with a religious ideal shaped equally individual scene, where the identities of the by the figure of Moses and the teaching of the characters are fixed and their relationships are Hebrew to give religious form to the frozen in place. This stage corresponds to a American civil rights movement. Does this dialogue in which religions confront one another mean that Martin Luther King, Jr. was in some as static and timeless entities. The second sense a “Buddhist ”? If so, to what degree? And stage shows the characters in motion, with was his appropriation of the bodhisattva ideal in different relationships and different modes of any sense “authentic ”? Or is there a statute of self-expression and self-discovery. This stage limitations in religious borrowing? Can we say, corresponds to a dialogue in which the religions when a religious story has passed through the are seen in constant evolution. The third stage hands of a certain number of different cultures, invites the observer to step onto the stage and that it has become the common legacy of become an actor in the play, interacting with the humanity and its original tradition can no longer characters and influencing the outcome of the claim the copyright? For that matter, in what story. In the fourth stage, the observer becomes sense does the bodhisattva ideal “belong ” to the play and takes all of the characters into him- early Buddhism? The practice of renunciation or herself. This stage corresponds to the certainly pre-existed the life of the Buddha. condition of a scholar of religion who has Buddhists could hardly claim to own this pan- attempted to enter imaginatively into different Indian ideal. religious traditions, hear their voices, listen to their self-presentations, and bring those I ask these questions in a somewhat offhanded presentations to life, as if speaking from within way, but they have serious implications for the the traditions themselves. scholarly dialogue (or, as Wilfred Cantwell Smith preferred, colloquy) of our conference. By In this essay I would like to explore the telling the story of Tolstoy and Josaphat, Smith implications of this fourth stage of dialogue, in was suggesting that world civilization was part because it is the way I have come to think moving toward a situation in which the of dialogue for myself after many years of boundaries between “religions ” (a word that watching the actors in the play, and in part Smith treated with suspicion) were more and because it is the stage where dialogue more fluid. He wrote his book before many of becomes most immediate, most visceral, and our present religious conflicts had reached their most risky, where it calls one ’s own identity full level of toxicity. (Although I remember how most into question and plays closest to the fire shaken he was when he returned from Beirut of truth. In a sense every scholar plays with this during a period of civil war, and told about a fire when she or he presumes to say that a line group of Christian militia men with images of the of the Qur ’an or a passage in the Upani ṣads Virgin Mary on the stocks of their rifles.) But has a certain meaning. If this hermeneutic there is no question that the simple model of activity seems benign, one only needs to be inter-religious dialogue as a “Muslim, ” reminded of the identity politics that has made

89 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism David Eckel Columbo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December 2009 scholars of Hinduism the targets of threats for your resurrection ” belong? Should we interpret transgressing religious taboos. These are the it as Buddhist or Christian? If the terms routine risks of scholarship and have their themselves are any indication, it must be counterparts in almost every tradition. Part of Christian. The word “resurrection ” came from being a scholar is to play close to this fire the New Testament that sat in front of the without being burned. I am more interested in master, and it has no obvious counterpart in the situations that pass from the realm of Buddhist tradition. But the factor that makes this scholarship to the realm of what might be called sentence distinctive is not its terminology but its first-order religion, or simply religion in the raw, use: it functions for the master and monk as a where someone makes religious use of a , a Zen puzzle that is designed to stop the gesture, idea, practice, doctrine, story, or mind in its tracks and lead to a deeper, more whatever the primary religious datum may be, in direct understanding of the concept in question an “other ” religious tradition. By “other ” I mean (if “concept ” is even the right word). The master that the datum may come from a tradition that is has absorbed a Christian concept, transmuted different from the tradition of the person who it, and presented it as a challenge to his uses it, or that it is used in a tradition that is Christian listeners in a way that makes them different from the one in which it normally more deeply Christian, but in a Buddhist way. resides. To be more precise, I would like to How was he able to do this? I am reminded of consider what it means for a preacher to preach Montgomery Watt ’s comments about across the boundary between one tradition and ’s alleged “borrowings ” from another. As before, I will begin with a story. Judaism and Christianity in the Qur ’an. 3 Watt cites Sir Hamilton Gibb ’s observation that Ernest Boyer, Jr. has written about a Zen “borrowing ” cannot take place between one master who visited St. Joseph ’s Abbey in culture and another unless there is already Spencer, Massachusetts .2 It was the Zen something in the borrowing culture that master ’s first visit to the monastery, and he was corresponds and is receptive to the religious so impressed by the spirit of prayer and quiet datum that is being borrowed. But Gibb ’s withdrawal that he offered to lead the monks in observation, as true as it may be, leaves an a retreat. In form the retreat followed the unavoidable puzzle. If the borrowed item is discipline of Zen, with long periods of already present in some form in the culture that contemplation mixed with occasional does the borrowing, in what sense is it and interviews with the master. What was borrowed? Perhaps it is better to say that the distinctive was the content of the interviews. presence of Jewish or Christian tradition in Instead of giving the monks a Zen koan to Muhammad ’s Arabia catalyzed a rediscovery consider, the master chose to adapt his and reformulation of religious ideas that had teaching to Christian tradition. When the first already been known but had been monk entered the master ’s room, the monk saw unappreciated and undervalued. Certainly that that the master had two copies of the New is part of the encounter between the master and Testament in front of him, one in Japanese and the monk. Resurrection is there all along, as it one in English. The master said: “I like were, but the master ’s words make it known in Christianity. But . . . I would not like it without a new way. resurrection. ” He leaned forward so that his face was only inches from the monk ’s and said: I keep Gibb ’s observation in mind on the “Show me your resurrection. . . . That is your occasions when I am called on to preach in a koan . Show me your resurrection. ” The Christian pulpit. Since my calling is as a college master ’s words posed a strong challenge to the professor and not as a parish priest, I do not Christian monk. They pose a clear hermeneutic generally preach on high holy days. That task question to the agenda of this symposium: To belongs to someone else. Instead, I have which tradition does the sentence “Show me become a specialist in the Sundays before and

90 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism David Eckel Columbo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December 2009 after major holidays, when the congregation same question that was posed by the master ’s dwindles and the regular preacher ’s creative use of the word “resurrection. ” Is the illustration inspiration runs dry. These Sundays often elicit “Buddhist ” or “Christian ”? I like to think that it a reflection on the basic kerygma of the Church: was both, but without using the names. Each “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and tradition was used to spark an interpretation of believe in the gospel ” (Mark 1:15). But the the other and create a rhetorical artifact that emphasis falls less on the kingdom of God or was in every sense “of the moment. ” the call for repentance than on the words “at hand. ” I explore the idea that the gospel The short description of the theme of this moment is present as much on the Sunday after symposium asked participants to reflect on “the Easter as it is in the high drama of Easter itself. dynamics and ethics of inter-religious This is a simple message, and it is hardly borrowing. ” One way to respond to this original, but it has a certain relevance and challenge would be to distill it into a question timeliness for the faithful few who find about truth: In what way is this act of inter- themselves in church on the low Sundays of the religious borrowing true? Robert Hill, Dean of year. When I preach this message, I draw Boston University ’s Marsh Chapel, locates the illustrations from the Buddhist tradition without truth of a sermon in the intersection of the mentioning the name. Sometimes I take a stick preacher ’s life, the life of the community, and and balance it on my finger. Pointing to one the text out of which the sermon grows. The first side, I say: “The past is gone and won ’t come two of these factors do not need special back. ” Pointing to the other side, I say: The comment, except to say that the religious future is not here yet. ” Pointing at the middle, I community I serve and the religious world I say: “If the challenge of the gospel is present inhabit have an inescapable inter-religious anywhere, it is in the infinitesimal point of the dimension. To preach without engaging this present. ” dimension, either implicitly or explicitly, fails to respond to the life of the community. It is the When I last made this point, I was greeted at third factor that needs the most scrutiny, in part the back of the church, by a colleague who is because the concept of “text ” is so complex. In an experienced scholar of religion. He said: “I the sermon I have just described, as in the have heard that you are a Buddhist- sermon encapsulated in the phrase, “Show me Episcopalian, but I did not hear any Buddhism your resurrection, ” there is an attempt to be in your sermon. What happened? ” I smiled. faithful to a Christian text. And not just to any From my point of view, the sermon was infused text, but to a text that is considered essential. from beginning to end with a Buddhist sense of The said: “I like Christianity. But . . time. The illustration of the stick comes from an . I would not like it without resurrection. ” In my episode in the BBC series The Long Search in sermon, the governing text was the summary of which the narrator reports a conversation with a Jesus ’ proclamation in the first chapter of the Zen master. My words about the stick repeat his gospel of Mark. This text is “essential ” in the story almost verbatim. Scholars of Japanese sense that it is a necessary criterion against Buddhism would recognize the illustration which other Christian proclamations are immediately as an example of the famous measured. The Buddhist case is more elusive. passage in D ōgen ’s Treasury of the True Assuming that the gesture with the stick gives a Dharma Eye (Sh ōbōgenz ō) on “time-being, ” faithful illustration of D ōgen ’s point, why choose where D ōgen says that nothing is left out of the the Zen master D ōgen? Why not choose present moment: “Each moment is all being, is , who represents a different Buddhist the entire world. Reflect now whether any being community and had a different view of time or any world is left out of the present moment. ”4 (although he had a similar sense of urgency)? It is a deliberate import of a Buddhist example The answer is that, on this particular point, into a Christian sermon, and it gives rise to the has an authority that is larger than his

91 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism David Eckel Columbo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December 2009 role as a representative of a particular the movement in the word “understand ” denomination of Zen. To explain why he has this (pratipatti ). Literally, the word means to move authority requires an excursion into the toward a goal. A more literal English rendering tradition ’s Indian roots. of the word in this verse might be “make progress. ” But words for motion in Sanskrit can In the sixth century, the Indian philosopher also mean to know, hence the translation Bh āviveka set out to classify the traditions of “understand. ” The sense of motion even , including the different appears in the word “tradition ” ( āgama ). This traditions of Indian Buddhism. There had been word could be interpreted as a verbal noun that other attempts at classification, and there had means “coming, ” in the sense of “coming been other attempts to refute rival traditions. But down, ” as if the opponent were misled not just the form of Bh āviveka ’s text was new – with a by what has been transmitted but by the separate chapter devoted to each rival school process of transmission itself. For Bh āviveka – and the genre he created became the the language of philosophy is literally in motion. dominant textual device to classify and study the diversity of Indian philosophy. The text What, then, is Bh āviveka ’s “approach ”? One of poses an obvious question: On what do its aspects has already been mentioned. It is Buddhists differ? One possibility might be their “rational ”: it involves formal argument and a “view ” ( dar śana ), a word that has also been reasoned investigation of the nature of things. translated as “philosophy. ” Another might be But Bh āviveka ’s approach is not limited to their “doctrine ” ( siddh ānta ). Both of these are rationality. When he discusses the categories of mentioned in the text and have an honorable Buddhist practice, he says that his approach after-life in the dar śana or siddh ānta texts that involves “no-apprehension ” ( ) followed Bh āviveka ’s precedent. But quotations Bh āviveka ’s preferred term, especially in his disputes with other Buddhists, is naya or nīti , a Anupalabdhi has sometimes been translated as pair of words that come from a root ( ni ) that “no-perception ” or “no-grasping. ” Both of these means to “lead. ” A way to capture the sense of translations capture some of its meaning, but it motion in these words is to translate them as is more helpful to understand it as a mode of “approach. ” Occasionally Bh āviveka equates cognition that does not reify its object. In this these words with another common word mārga , sense, it could be called “non-objectification. ” which means “way ” or “path. ” As he develops When Bh āviveka explains the approach of “no- his account of competing philosophical options apprehension, ” he often devolves into a series in Indian Buddhist tradition, he plays on the of conventional Mah āyāna paradoxes. If an metaphorical implications of these words with opponent asks how to practice the different surprising subtlety, as in this response to the components of the eightfold path, Bh āviveka Yog ācāras, his principal Mah āyāna opponents: says that right vision should be practiced as no “The opponent ’s mind is confused and misled vision, right thought as no thought, and so on. by other traditions, and he does not This account of the path grows out of [understand]; to make him understand, one Bh āviveka ’s view of reality, but it also is related should follow a rational approach to his view of interpretation. The word (nāgam āntarasamdigdhaviparyastamatih parah “approach ” reflects a key distinction in Buddhist / tasm āt tatpratipattyartham tanmrgyo hermeneutics. Some scriptural texts can be yuktimannayah ). This verse pictures taken literally, and some need further Bh āviveka ’s argument as a form of motion: it is interpretation. The first group of texts has an “approach ” to be “followed ” ( mrgya ). (The “definitive meaning ” ( nītārtha ), while the second word “followed ” is the verbal form of the word has “secondary meaning ” ( ney ārtha ). More mārga and often is used to name the action of literally, the first group has meaning to which a hunter pursuing an animal.) Less obvious is one “has been led ” ( nīta ), while the second has

92 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism David Eckel Columbo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December 2009 meaning to which one “needs to be led ” ( neya ). by not worshiping Brahman at all. Buddhist How should one “lead to ” the correct ( nīta ) antagonism toward the idea of God is aptly meaning? By using the correct “approach ” expressed in a verse attributed to the Hindu (naya or nīti ). When Bh āviveka disagrees with philosopher Udayana. Arriving at the temple other Buddhists, it is not just about their one day and finding the gate locked, Udayana understanding of reality. It also has to do with addressed God with these words: “Drunk with their interpretation of scripture. the wine of your own God-ness, you ignore me, but when the Buddhists are here, your very The point of this exercise in Buddhist philology existence depends on me. ”5 But Christian is not to examine the Indian tradition per se. tradition offers ample precedent of its own for a That tradition is complex and allows many other critical approach to the concept of God. Some interpretive options beside the “approach ” of specialists in Buddhist-Christian dialogue have Bh āviveka. This point is simply that the example found that Meister Eckhart ’s view of a God of the stick balanced on the finger lies in a beyond “God ” helps explore points of tradition of interpretation with roots that go deep convergence between Christian and Buddhist in the Indian tradition. The claim that the gospel views of ultimate reality .6 Another useful line of is found “in the infinitesimal point of the present ” exploration lies in Paul Tillich ’s “Protestant 7 leads back through the works of D ōgen to the Principle ”, not least because Tillich himself canonical traditions of the Mah āyāna. One of used it to open up his understanding of the questions addressed by this conference has Christianity toward the concept of “emptiness ” to do with the “authenticity ” of interpretation. I in Mah āyāna Buddhism. But the importance of will not attempt to address this question in its these two comparative strategies is not whether totality, except to say that one aspect of an Meister Eckhart ’s “God ” or Tillich ’s “ultimate authentic interpretation of an “other ” text must concern ” is identical to Buddhist views of the certainly be an attempt to place that text within ultimate. (Buddhists themselves had enough the indigenous interpretive tradition that lies trouble agreeing about ultimate reality to make behind it. all comparisons elusive.) Their importance lies in their critical methodology, their uneasiness But cross-traditional authenticity is not a one- with partial formulations and naive reifications. way street. Could the claim that the gospel is Wherever they may be moving, they seem to found “in the infinitesimal point of the present ” share a critical approach, and in this sense, they be so infused by Buddhist ways of thought that walk a path that Bh āviveka would find familiar. it has ceased to be authentically Christian? On one level the answer is obvious. By its liturgical It is not necessary, however, to limit this cross- setting, its timing, and its relationship to the cultural investigation to the language of tradition of Christian rhetoric, the statement is theology. Tolstoy encountered Buddhist tradition easy to identify as a Christian utterance. But it in the story of a saint, even though the story had is possible to push the question further and ask long been separated from its roots. The same whether an interpretive concept like could be said of the Zen master who asked the Bh āviveka ’s anupalabdhi-naya is congruent Christian monks to demonstrate their with the basic assumptions of the gospel. Any resurrection. It is not just theologians and consideration of this question has to begin by literary critics who “interpret ” narrative. The right acknowledging that there are important of interpretation also belongs to the novelists differences between these two traditions. and story-tellers who borrow a story, transform Bh āviveka used the paradoxes of the it, and retell it in a different setting. Of the anupalabdhi-naya to engage in a subtle that balance on the Buddhist-Christian divide, mockery of theistic religion, claiming in one one of the most challenging is Shusaku Endo ’s 8 place that Mah āyāna devotees worship Silence . Endo ’s story has to do with a Jesuit Brahman by the only true method of worship – missionary in Japan during a persecution that

93 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism David Eckel Columbo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December 2009 nearly obliterated the community of Japanese reinforces the message of the text itself? The Christians. With harrowing intensity, Endo “text ” I have in mind is the monumental figure probes the identity of Christians in Japan and of the Buddha at Bamiyan in Afghanistan. How the moral struggle of a priest who tries to this image functioned as a “text ” would be worth minister to his embattled community. Endo considering. All I will say here is that it clearly pictures Christianity as a tree whose roots have invited interpretation. Images like the Bamiyan rotted and cannot thrive in the alien soil of Buddha serve as devotional objects, but they Japan, and the priest as a person who has to also deliver a message. By their impassivity and be humiliated in order to realize his vocation as their sense of quiet, they question the a priest. His particular humiliation – it could be preoccupations of ordinary life, including the called his crucifixion – is to renounce his faith preoccupation with the Buddha ’s physical form. and live as a ward of the state. If Endo had It is as if they reduce ordinary life to a shadow. given the retreat at St. Joseph ’s Abbey, his koan In 2001 the Taliban interpreted the message of would have been not “show me your the Bamiyan Buddha by surrounding it with resurrection ” but “show me your crucifixion. ” It is dynamite and reducing it to rubble. This was not as if Endo were saying that Christianity has to intended to be a respectful interpretation. The die for it to be truly Christian. Observers of news of the destruction elicited widespread Buddhist-Christian dialogue could connect this outrage from the international community. Many point to the kenosis passage in Philippians 2, suggested that the image should be where Christ is said to “empty himself ” and take reconstructed in situ or replaced by a replica. A the form of a servant. The term “empty ” leads more informed view of this destruction might back to the “emptiness ” of D ōgen ’s “time-being ” recognize that the Taliban had created, and Bh āviveka ’s “noapprehension. ” As it inadvertently, a very traditional image of the navigates these concepts and gives them Buddha as an empty niche. Dynamite took the narrative shape, Endo ’s story raises the same place of philosophical argument and reduced question about cross-cultural identity that was the Buddha to an empty place. It is difficult to raised by the Zen master at St. Joseph ’s Abbey. imagine, in the present climate of religious Is the story “Christian ” or “Buddhist ”? One could hostility, that this act of destruction could be an argue not only that it is both, but that it is more occasion for respectful inter-religious exchange. deeply one by being emptied and taking the But it raises an intriguing set of theological form of the other. questions about the significance of emptiness in Buddhism and Islam. Each tradition, in its These examples of Buddhist-Christian own way, understands the secret language of interpretations present various perplexities, but architecture – empty space. The stone Buddha at least they are friendly interpretations. No one lasted more than a thousand years before it was is setting out to mock, undermine, or obliterate transformed into a different kind of icon. the other. They are trying to understand and Perhaps there will be a time when its emptiness perhaps spark a deeper appreciation on both becomes a symbol of rapprochement between sides of the inter-religious divide. But what Buddhism and Islam. For the moment, I would about cases where the intention is just the be content to visit the empty shrine and pay opposite? Can we imagine an interpretation that homage not only to the absence of the Buddha, is intended not to affirm another tradition ’s text but to the way this absence embodies the but to destroy it, and yet does this in a way that ambiguities of cross-cultural interpretation.

1 Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Towards a World Theology: Faith and the Comparative History of Religion . Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1989, pp.7-11 2 Ernest Boyer, Jr., A Way in the World: Family Life as Spiritual Discipline , San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984, pp. 82-84.

94 Current Dialogue (Special Issue) Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in December 2011 the Context of Buddhism David Eckel Columbo, Sri Lanka, 9-12 December 2009

3 W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad: and Statesman , Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961 p. 42. 4 , ed., Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master D ōgen . New York: North Point Press, 1985 p. 77. 5 The verse is discussed in George Chemparathy, An Indian Rational Theology: Introduction to Udayana’s Ny āyakusum āñjali. Leiden: Brill, 1972 6 See John B Cobb Jr. and Christopher Ives, The Emptying God: a Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversation . Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1990. 7 Paul Tillich Christianity and the Encounter of World Religions. Foreword by Krister Stendahl. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994, p.6. See also Paul Tillich, The Eternal Now. New York: Scribner, 1963 8 Endo, Shusaku. Silence . Translated by William Johnston. Tokyo: Kodansha International , 1982.

Professor David Eckel is Professor of Religion at Boston University. He has studied at both Oxford and Harvard universities. Publications include Bhaviveka and His Buddhist Opponents; To See the Buddha: A Philosopher’s Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness; Buddhism; Jnanagarbha’s Commentary on the Distinction Between the Two Truths. He is editor of India and The West: The Problem of Understanding and Deliver Us from Evil .

95